Is The Number of Young Diabetics Rising in Asia?

Diabetes mellitus, more often referred to as diabetes, is a condition in which the body does not produce enough or properly respond to insulin. Being a hormone produced in the pancreas, insulin has the function of enabling cells to absorb glucose and turning it into energy. When a person has diabetes, the glucose will accumulate in the blood and this will eventually lead to various complications. For instance, diabetes has been identified as a risk factor for heart disease.

There is no doubt that diabetes has turned into a global problem. It is expected that the number of victims will grow from 240 million in 2007 to 380 million in 2025.

In Europe and North America, overweight and obesity have long been thought to lead to Type-2 diabetes. However, a study, published on May 27, 2009 in the Journal of American Medical Association, reported that the number of diabetics is rising in Asia affecting those who are relatively young and less likely to be struggling with obesity, unlike in the West.

Based on the figures from the International Diabetes Federation, more than 60 percent of diabetics will reside in Asia, the fastest growing region in the world. Countries with low- and middle-income will face the hardest hit. The number of diabetics will grow from 40 million to nearly 70 million in India; 39 million to 59 million in China; and 3.8 million to 7.4 million in Bangladesh.

While the trends of diabetes could be influenced from genetic makeup and cultural differences to smoking and degrees of urbanization, the most startling result was still related to body mass and age.

Despite lower obesity rate, the waistlines of Asian population keep expanding as a result of rapid economic development, changing diets and more sedentary lifestyle. Expanding waistline is considered to be harmful to diabetes. This is because fat around the abdomen stores excess energy and releases chemicals that control metabolism and use of insulin.

Although people across Asia generally have lower body mass index (BMI), which is the ratio of weight (kg) divided by the square of height (cm), they can have a similar or even higher chance of developing diabetes, according to the study.

Inactive Kids Are At Risk of Heart Disease As Teens!

Childhood obesity has been a major issue facing governments around the world. This is because obese kids can develop heart disease, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), and even some types of cancer later in their life. The amount of medical expenses thus incurred is expected to be huge and this surely will create great pressure on the authorities concerned.

Most health experts have attributed such epidemic to unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. A recent finding published on April 4, 2008 in the British journal Dynamic Medicine pointed out that young children who have sedentary lifestyles are up to 6 times more likely to be at serious risk of heart disease later in life, than their peers who are active. Meanwhile, the cluster of symptoms reflecting heart trouble, known as metabolic syndrome, could just show up as early as at the teen years.

In the study, key health indicators like blood pressure, body mass, cholesterol levels, height, percentage of body fat were measured for about 400 kids between 7 and 10 by the researchers from the University of North Carolina. Their frequency and duration of physical exercise were also monitored.

7 years later, these children were reexamined as teenagers and it was found that there was nearly 5 percent of the adolescents had 3 or more of core symptoms of metabolic syndrome.

Such result more or less confirmed the previous research that showed 4 to 9 percent of adolescents in the United States have some combination of glucose intolerance, hypertension, obesity and a worrying cholesterol count.

The study also found that adolescents with the syndrome were 6 times more likely to have low aerobic fitness as children, and 5 times more likely to have low levels of physical activity when the study began. These kids at best brisk walked, rode a bike or performed some equivalent activity for not more than 20 minutes a day.

This was indeed very much lower than that recommended by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that children should exert themselves at this level for at least an hour per day.

It is undeniable that children today have adopted a very sedentary life and are prone to overweight or even obesity. The new findings have already highlighted the link between sedentary life and heart disease. As such, efforts to ensure kids to increase exercise in their childhood as early as possible are inevitable. It is better to keep fit now rather than suffer the health consequences later in life.

Diet That May Help Prevent From Diabetes!

In general, there are 2 types of diabetes, namely Type-1 and Type-2. Type-1 is caused by permanent destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. This type of diabetes usually appears in patients during the early stage in life. On the other hand, the adoption of sugary and fatty diets and sedentary lifestyle has caused Type-2 diabetes to become an epidemic in developed and developing countries. Without a proper medical treatment, diabetes might lead to kidney failure, blindness, heart disease and even death.

According to the estimation by the International Diabetes Federation, the number of cases, including many adolescents, will raise from 246 million today to 380 million by 2025.

Recently, researchers from the University of Navarra in northern Spain reported in the British Medical Journal on May 29, 2008 that Mediterranean diet, which is believed to benefit the cardiovascular system, also helps protect against diabetes.

Mediterranean diet comprises mainly olive oil, fish, grains, fruit, nuts and vegetables, usually supplemented by a modest amount of red wine. Only a small portion of meat and dairy products are included the diet.

In the study, 13,753 people with graduate-level education were recruited between December 1999 and November 2007. These subjects had no history of diabetes when they were enrolled. Over the following months and years, their health and dietary habits were then tracked in details.

During the follow-up period (an average of 4.4 years over the range of participants), 103 people became diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes. A large percentage of these cases are those who did not follow the basics of the Mediterranean diet. Meanwhile, those who adhered to the diet most strictly had a relative reduction of 83 percent in the risk of diabetes.

Interestingly, many people in this group also had accumulated many risk factors for the disease: they were older, were fatter, had a family history of diabetes, more sedentary lifestyle or were ex-smokers. Yet, they appear to have been protected by the diet.

Numerous previous studies have proved that Mediterranean diet helps cardiac and vascular health. A paper published in January 2008 in the British journal Thorax revealed that women who followed the diet while pregnant might also protect their baby from childhood asthma and allergy.

Can Risk of Child Diabetes Be Lowered By Taking Vitamin D?

Diabetes is a chronic disease in which human body does not produce enough of the hormone insulin, or cannot make proper use of the insulin it produces (insulin resistance). A diabetic, who does not manage the condition seriously, could likely become a candidate for heart disease.

There are 2 types of diabetes, namely Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes.

Type-1 diabetes is a condition in which beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are destroyed in early childhood by the body's immune system. The disease is very common among people of European descent, affecting around 2 million Europeans and North Americans. The reasons are still unclear.

Type 2 diabetes, which is far more common, is associated mainly with an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. It is becoming epidemic in many developed or fast-developing countries.

New evidence reported on March 13, 2008 in specialist journal “Archives of Disease in Childhood” that taking vitamin D supplements in infancy might help a youngster prevent Type-1 diabetes.

Doctors from St. Mary's Hospital for Women and Children in Manchester, northern England looked at 5 studies in which children were monitored from infancy to early childhood to see if vitamin D supplements could reduce the risk of becoming diabetic.

The risk of getting diabetes was reduced 29 percent in children who took extra vitamin D as compared to those who had not.