Turning Back the Tide of Type 2 Among Teens: One third of American adolescents are overweight. This may be described as an epidemic among American teens not just because of the weight gain, but because obesity among the young has brought a condition something primarily aging Americans have has to live with in the past. Doctors have seen an alarming number of young people developing Type 2 diabetes. WebMD.com reports, “The rate of type 2 diabetes among children has increased more than tenfold in the last two decades, from 3% to nearly half of all new pediatric diabetes cases.”
We have previously reported that a stomach bypass has worked to successfully place diabetes in remission for adult test subjects in recent research. New studies indicate a similar possibility for teens. This could open the way for new and effective ways to treat onset diabetes for a new age group.
The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center conducted the research on 11 obese adolescents who had developed Type 2 diabetes. One test subject weighed in excess of 400 pounds.
In each case the patients were subjected to a gastric bypass operation. Their progress was compared to a select group of adolescents who had medically managed diabetes care options throughout the entire study.
Following the one-year study 10 of the 11 patients who underwent a gastric bypass had lost considerable weight, and their diabetes was in remission. The patients who relied on medication to manage their care saw some positive news during their regulated treatment. However, there were no remissions among the second test group.
Lead author Thomas Inge is reported by DNJ.com as saying, “The remarkable thing is that the teens who underwent these procedures did not have any major complications.”
DNJ.com further stated, “The patients came off all diabetic medications, returned to normal blood glucose and insulin levels and significantly improved their blood pressure and cholesterol.”
While some are lauding this new research as a potential cure for Type 2 diabetes among teens there are those that provide a note of caution. DNJ.com further reported that Michael Freemark, chief of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at Duke University Medical Center said, ”It’s encouraging, but the results should not at this point be applied in the general community.”
What this likely means is that Freemark and others might be more enthused about the findings if there were more tests and test subjects to substantiate this initial research. Perhaps this comment may be best considered guarded optimism.
However, now with research indicating that both adults and teens may find relief from diabetes if a gastric bypass is conducted soon after original diagnosis of their disease there may indeed be several additional studies. Perhaps the primary reason for the additional research is the sheer numbers of diabetic patients who remain vitally interested in a way to pull the plug on their disease.
Inge defends his findings by saying, “This opens up a discussion about what may be appropriate treatment and offers pediatric endocrinologists another tool.”
For those teens that may be at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes the National Diabetes Education Program offers the following prevention tips.
- Stay at a healthy weight.
- Be more physically active.
- Choose to eat the right amounts of healthy foods.
