Weighing in on Diabetes: Taking Small Steps to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Can Reap Huge Rewards in the Long Run

Perry, Patrick, The Saturday Evening Post

As the number of overweight Americans continues to soar, health experts, economists, and researchers are scrambling to discover ways to tackle the health crisis facing our nation. In addition to elevating the incidence of heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease (see "Kidney Alert" on page 56), obesity dramatically increases one's risk for adult onset diabetes. With two out of three Americans waging a battle of the bulge, we are also witnessing an epidemic of type 2 diabetes.

Unfortunately, the epidemic of adult onset diabetes includes an unprecedented number of young children, a disease rarely seen in previous generations. The problem is so serious that in June, the CDC issued a warning that unless serious measures are taken to reverse the trend of obesity in American youth, one in three children born in 2000 will become diabetic. The twin evils of oversized meals and undersized activity weigh in as principal culprits in this health crisis, but parents can intervene.

"When it comes to children, there are two successful strategies to prevent obesity," said Dr. William Dietz, an obesity expert at the CDC, who echoes the sentiments of experts around the world. "First, parents should take control of the TV set and limit how much TV their children watch. Parents also need to be in charge of what children are offered to eat."

The problem is not isolated to the United States, since other countries also struggle with the growing problem. Some countries, such as Australia, are proposing a "fat tax" to combat the problem as part of a shock tactic to wake Australians up to the diabetes epidemic, directly linked to food choices and inactivity.

To learn more about the problem and measures that …

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Publication information: Article title: Weighing in on Diabetes: Taking Small Steps to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Can Reap Huge Rewards in the Long Run. Contributors: Perry, Patrick - Author. Magazine title: The Saturday Evening Post. Volume: 275. Issue: 5 Publication date: September-October 2003. Page number: 40+. © Benjamin Franklin Literary and Medical Society Jan/Feb 2007. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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