Childhood Obesity and Diabetes on the Rise

According to authors of a new study in today’s Pediatrics, the number of children taking pills for Type 2 diabetes more than doubled from 2002 to 2005. The study also indicates that at least 23,000 privately insured children in the U.S. are taking diabetes medications. Now imagine the statistics for the uninsured.

The correlation between poverty, food insecurity and childhood obesity is    indisputable. In families where income is tight and inconsistent, parents often choose the easiest, fastest and cheapest meal solutions – which typically includes the option of fast food. Have you followed the story about the South Los Angeles City Council which recently passed a year long moratorium on the opening of any new fast food restaurants? It’s a case study to keep an eye on. Some are calling it a case of “big brother” weighing too heavily in our daily lives, but I disagree.

Does anyone remember cigarette and unregulated liquor ads on TV? It took decades before the Surgeon General stepped in and put warning labels on products deemed detrimental to the health of our people. Why not fast food and other heavily processed products? Until we and our leaders make the connection between a broken health care system and the substances we are putting in our – and our children’s bodies – we will continue to wring our hands and wonder why a disease once referred to as “adult onset diabetes” can no longer be so called.