Nearly 50% of newly diagnosed people with type 2 diabetes within the last year are aged between 18-34, according to a new UK survey. The Lloyds Pharmacy poll also revealed 56% of respondents said prior to their diagnosis they did not know that the condition led to other serious health conditions, such as neuropathy (nerve damage) and cardiovascular problems. Despite the high figures, 42% said they felt they could have prevented the condition if they had been given more education and 27% said they wish they had understood the risks before they were diagnosed. Professor Melanie Davies CBE, co-director of the Leicester Diabetes Centre and professor of diabetes medicine at the University of Leicester: said: "We have been highlighting this issue for the last five years. There are increasing numbers of people diagnosed at a younger age with type 2 diabetes. "We are now seeing that whilst outcomes for older people with type 2 diabetes are improving they are getting worse in the younger group. We now have children with type 2 diabetes in the clinic and we’re facing the prospect of these younger people being outlived by their parents, which is very depressing." Finding the right advice on preventing and overcoming type 2 diabetes can be problematic. For years, dietary advice has recommended we eat high carb, low fat, but this guideline is being strongly questioned as research is showing that a low carbohydrate intake leads to improved blood sugar and less reliance on medications. Good news from the Lloyds poll was that many people have already taken steps to better their health, with 31% having already lost weight since being diagnosed, 33% have taken up exercise and 33% have completely ditched sugar. Diabetes.co.uk's award-winning Low Carb Program, which can now be prescribed by the NHS, has been shown to be hugely effective in helping people prevent and manage their condition. More than 326,000 people have signed up to the program, a 10-week, evidence-based structured behavioural change programme which shows how a low carbohydrate approach to blood glucose control can help people lose weight, improve their health and wellbeing, and reduce their medication dependency.
Generally I don't like the idea of state imposed solutions. But then I think the ban on smoking in public places could well be the single most effective piece of public health policy making ever. Whichever government finds the most effective intervention on sugar/carbs will have done a great deed. I'm not sure what the right answer is though. Tax hasn't stopped people drinking too much, or reduced road congestion. Is something more radical required?
Exercise doesn't prevent diabetes. A bit, but not really. I went running 3-4 times a week. Still got overweight. Still got T2. One pound of body fat is 3500 calories. Most people will find it easier to drop 500 calories a day than to run 25 miles a week to remove that weight.
I agree with both mikeD and rhubarb73. Shouldn't really be the food industry or government or whatever, taxing this and that or sporting being compulsory. Who's feeding the kids?. So a bit of parental responsibly wouldn't go astray. Also when you start taking that away it's dictatorship. Aren't we responsible for what goes into our mouths, how are kids to learn. Not by taxing. Seems to me we are letting government and the like take away, a little if not a lot, of our freedom. Just one persons opinion.
I didn’t not get type 2 from eating junk and sitting on my behind all day. I exercised and ate what would for the general population be considered healthy.
I have PCOS and that causes insulin resistance.
To imply that taxing „junk food“ and forcing kids to exercise would prevent diabetes is too simplistic.
We have increasing environmental pollutions and antibiotics in our food supply that are contributing to the populations ill health.
What really worries me is that people will give up sugary drinks and have diet drinks instead thinking these are healthy. They aren't. They alter the gut biome and cause fatty liver... which puts you well on the way to T2. I gave up sugary foods years before becoming diabetic. I didn't know that all carbs turn to glucose in the body.
