Diabetes Tops Child Obesity's... Health Article

Children who weigh too much face a broad array of health problems, with type 2 diabetes leading the list.

Closely linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes was once so rare among children that it was called adult onset diabetes. But University of Florida doctors, like colleagues nationwide, are seeing "more 12- and 13-year-olds with type 2 diabetes than you can imagine," says Janet Silverstein, M.D., chief of the university's division of pediatric endocrinology and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics executive committee on endocrinology.

Doctors estimate that half of overweight kids will grow up to be overweight adults. Once they've been too heavy for too many years, experts say, they're at risk for diseases that doctors usually see in people in their 60s, 70s and 80s. "We'll be treating them when they're in their mid-30s," says Francine R. Kaufman, M.D., past president of the American Diabetes Association. "Their diabetes will lead to so many problems."

The average age of kids being treated in obesity clinics is about 12. "When these kids grow up and into their most productive years, many of them will be on disability from their diabetes and the many diseases that accompany diabetes," says obesity researcher Richard L. Atkinson, M.D., president of the American Obesity Association.

But diabetes is just one of many health problems tied to obesity. "We had an 18-year-old girl with a stroke," says Dr. Silverstein, whose Florida program is swamped with children. "It's like this across the country."

"This is a huge public health problem and it's going to get worse," says Dr. Silverstein. "The trend is still going up."

Childhood ailments linked with obesity:

• Diabetes

• High cholesterol and other blood fats

• High blood pressure

• Gallbladder disease

• Polycystic ovary syndome (PCOS)

• Kidney failure

• Blindness

• Orthopedic difficulties

• Psychological problems

• Social problems

• Obstructive sleep apnea