Reduce Children's Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

05/28/08 Type II Diabetes

Children who face stressful conditions have demonstrated a higher incidence of obesity in adulthood.

The study was published by British researchers in the May 2008 issue of Pediatrics. The authors found a 20 to 50 percent increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes in study participants who reported sustaining or witnessing verbal abuse, humiliation, strict upbringing, neglect, physical punishment, tension, conflict, low parental aspirations or interest in education, father seldom reading to them, and rarely going out with parents.

Researchers believe that higher obesity rates yield a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes. There have been other studies that have confirmed a link between child abuse and diabetes, but this is the first to associate diabetes with stressful conditions. While most of the stress listed above tends to incur adulthood obesity, some stressors are associated more definitively with type 2 diabetes. Those are: low parental aspirations and little paternal or maternal interest in child's education, and hardly going out with father or mother.

Of interest are the items which do not appear to influence adult obesity or diabetes such as mother hardly reads to child, does not get along with either parent, scruffy or dirty appearance, domestic tension, and parental alcoholism.

There were 9,310 participants in the project—a number significant enough to turn your head. The authors took into consideration life styles like smoking, drinking, and diet, and adjusted their statistical analysis. There is also the genetic predisposition to obesity and diabetes. This suggests the endocrine system plays a role in metabolic syndrome from our formative years. The endocrine system controls hormones—including insulin.

Until we know otherwise, think twice before snapping at your children. Spend quality time with them and know being kind is good for them and your conscience in more ways than one.

Corie Richter is a nurse and physician's assistant who started her career as a health educator. The survivor of a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and partially successful quadruple bypass surgery, she did not let her health challenges hamper her. Neither the limitations of spinal surgery nor of diabetes have deterred her from a mission of service. She now encourages others through writing and speaking engagements to master their disabilities through education and a proactive attitude.