|
|
|
"Obesity feeds disease spike
NEW South Wales is facing a health crisis, with new figures showing a 300 per cent increase in diabetics, with the rapid rise being driven by obese children and teenagers.
Children as young as eight are weighing in around 70kg while doctors are seeing 15-year-old boys with organ damage of someone three times their age.
Health experts are now calling on the Government to address the escalating problem and introduce GP accreditation in diabetes care, lifestyle education and programs in schools and ethical food advertising.
"Our kids are getting to middle-aged, chronic diseases in their teen years," University of Sydney School of Public Health obesity expert Dr Michael Booth said.
New figures were released yesterday at a diabetes summit showing the number of type 2 diabetics has doubled in five years, numbers of children with type 2 diabetes was increasing at between five and 10 per cent a year and juvenile type 1 diabetes is rising by three per cent a year.
Diabetes is a chronic disease which limits lifespan; type 1 is an an auto-immune disease which requires insulin injections while type 2 is is where the body is resistant to insulin and is usually caused by lifestyle.
Mother of four-year-old type 1 diabetic Matt, Sandra Antulov said funding is urgently needed to address inevitable health complications from a generation of diabetics.
"Without funding and without a cure the only reality is a very tight daily [regimen] of insulin doses and blood sugar management," she said.
The obesity epidemic was blamed as the major cause of the rise in type 2 diabetes and experts are presenting an action plan to health and education ministers this week.
Some key recommendations included mandatory lifestyle education and programs for schools, ethical food advertising and GP accreditation in diabetes care.
Dr Booth said guidelines needed to be introduced in the advertising of junk food, with the numbers of overweight children increasing at breakneck speed.
He warned one in five teens was facing serious health complications and shorter lifespans.
Diabetes Australia-NSW president Neville Howard said: "At least half of the children with type 2 have problems such as hypertension, high cholesterol, suspicion of renal failure - and we're seeing that in 15-year-olds."
Health Minister John Hatzistergos said many of the recommendations were already in place.
"But given that diabetes is such a fast growing health problem I have asked they continue talks with us so we can continue to address the issue," he said."