Misunderstood Prediabetes
Learn how prediabetes leads to type 2 diabetes and how fat plays a role.
Most people mistakenly associate all diabetes with a lack of insulin, the hormone produced by the pancreas that clears sugar (glucose) and fat out of the bloodstream and moves it into the cells after meals. Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, is characterized by the inability of the pancreas to make enough insulin. But in prediabetes, which often leads to type 2 diabetes, the problem is not too little insulin but the resistance of cells to the hormone's effects.
You Can Help Children Avoid Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is affecting kids in a big way, but diet and exercise can help children avoid or reverse this condition.
Once upon a time, type 2 diabetes was called “adult-onset diabetes.” If children had diabetes, 99 times out of 100 it was type 1 diabetes; type 2 diabetes didn’t appear until midlife. Now, studies suggest that up to 45 percent of childhood diabetes cases are type 2 diabetes.