I really wish this was a headline from The Onion, but alas, it’s not. There was a time not that long ago that diabetes in children meant one thing, and that was autoimmune driven Type 1 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes used to be called “adult onset diabetes.” It’s now “for everyone.” The news article details how a three year old toddler pulled down the DM2 (diabetes mellitus 2) diagnosis…there are several sections worth noting:
“Doctors reviewed the child’s diet and found the family had poor nutritional habits with uncontrolled calories and fat. Both her weight and body mass index (BMI) were in the top 5 percent of all children her age.”
Although it’s a nice story to tell that carbs and carbs alone are the cause of DM2, it’s not really accurate. Too many calories, which can come from fat OR carbs are clearly the factor here…but it’s worth noting in the above paragraph…the medical staff identified too many calories were being consumed (all fine there) but ONLY mention fat as a problem. I PROMISE you this kid was not overeating butter, bacon, nuts, and eggs. I will bet the farm, to the degree fat IS a factor here, it’s being carried down the pie-hole on the backbone on refined carbs. The hyper-palatable combination of fat and carbs is tough to turn down and is clearly irresistible to kids. This is also interesting:
“Reversal of type 2 diabetes in children is possible by early screening of obese children, early diagnosis, appropriate therapy and lifestyle modification,” Yafi said.
Yes, we can intervene in type 2 diabetes, yes good lifestyle and diet changes can turn this around, but damage has already been done at this point, particularly in a toddler. What epigenetic changes have occurred that will predispose this little girl (and the growing number of kids like her) to everything from neurodegeneration to various forms of cancer? We don’t know and we will not know until the costs, both in human and economic terms, have literally crushed us.
The only thing that may perk up the ears of researchers and the medical community may be some kind of class-action process, not dissimilar to what we saw happen with tobacco. It’s time to get this story and what we do about it right, our kids deserve better than this.
Just want to follow the discussion….Robb saved our family about a decade ago…he was giving a CrossFit nutrition seminar….I am still trying to convince friends of the importance of diet.
Diet really is everything. I have a 20 month old. He is the youngest of 4 and when I tell people that he has never tasted sugar or processed food they look at me and say things like “how do you do that” “that’s impossible, my kids would never eat like that”. He also likes things like kimchi, sauerkraut and beet soup. The only grains he has consumed have been my homemade sourdough using a traditional starter culture and pancakes made by soaking flour overnight in buttermilk. All of this prep to get rid of as many anti nutrients as possible. It is possible to feed children this way and to expand their taste buds when they are very little. It’s up to us as parents. We should do better as a society. Forget the “convenience” or “cost”. You either pay now or pay later in both of those cases. I would rather pay up front and not pay with my children’s health later
Truth. Well said.