Diabetes Drug Use Spikes Amongs U.S. Kids
Note from Connie: What kind of future will our children face if they continually gain weight and develop type 2 diabetes. Now alarming news has been released, which shows that American adolescents doubled their use of diabetes drugs between the years 2002 and 2005. Jennifer Moore bring you the details.
As Connie noted in her introduction, American children are taking diabetes drugs in alarming amounts -- they've doubled their use between 2002 and 2005, according to research presented by the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Express Scripts, a St. Louis company that manages drug benefits for millions of Americans.
The scary information was revealed at a meeting of the American Public Health Association.
Scarier still, girls aged 10 to 14 seemed to fare even worse than boys -- their use of diabetes medication shot up a shocking 166% over the same 3-year-period.
What's behind this alarming trend? The research team thinks obesity is likely to blame.
It really is sad to think of any 10-year-old taking diabetes drugs, but the fact that drug use is increasing at such a rapid rate is really disheartening. But all is not lost, in my opinion: Adults can teach kids to make better food choices and provide their kids with healthier food. And they can emphasize the importance of being at a healthy weight and exercising.
No one's saying it's easy, when fast food joints are ubiquitous. But it's not impossible. I can only hope news like this spurs adults to take action.
Jennifer Moore for SUGAR SHOCK! Blog
Posted by: helen | Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 10:26 PM