A new generation of diabetics?

Rising rates of obesity among children may point to a coming surge in type 2 diabetes and a pressing need to find ways of staving off the disease’s clinical development, according to data reported at the American Diabetes Association meeting in June by Sonia Caprio, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics. She tested 110 obese children and found that 19 percent had elevated blood sugar, a condition known as impaired glucose tolerance, putting them at risk for the most common form of diabetes. Says Caprio: “We know there is borderline type 2 diabetes in these kids. Do we try to treat them to prevent it?” She has begun to look at what effect medical therapy, nutritional counseling and exercise may have in warding off the disease in obese children.