Living With Diabetes

A Disease
of the Young?

Diabetes is "becoming a disease of the young," says Dr. Arthur Rubenstein, a leading endocrinologist and dean at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The average age for the onset of diabetes is indeed dropping. "Ten years ago, we were teaching medical students that you didn't see this disease in people under 40," says diabetes expert Dr. Robin S. Goland, speaking of Type 2 diabetes. "Now we're seeing it in people under 10."

Why the increase in diabetes among youths? Sometimes a genetic predisposition is involved. But weight and environment may also play a role. The number of obese children has doubled in the past two decades. What accounts for this? "There have been a number of changes in food habits and activity patterns over the last 20 years," says Dr. William Dietz of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "These include increased reliance on foods consumed outside the home; increased rates of skipping breakfast; increased consumption of soft drinks and fast foods; reduction of [physical education] in schools; and elimination of recess at school."

Diabetes cannot be reversed. Therefore, it is wise to follow the advice of one teenage sufferer, who simply states: "Stay away from junk food and stay fit."