A large donation of money from the Starr Foundation is to be used to establish a new trial amongst children and adolescents. The trial, according to medical experts, will establish whether type 2 diabetes can be prevented through fitness activities and lessons in healthy eating.
The study will take place over a five-year period and will involve 1,000 pupils in schools in Brookly, Manhattan and Nassau Country. The study will compare two groups of children. The first will be given a specially devised 14-session course about healthy eating, using fitness activities that reflect the children’s own interests. This group will be compared to control subjects who are not part of the program .
It is currently though that as many as 2 million children aged 12-19 in America currently are suffering from pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is strongly linked to obesity and inactivity, and often leads to type 2 diabetes.
Furthermore, the incidence of type 2 diabetes amongst children and adolescents is leaping up, and now accounts for almost 30 per cent of new paediatric diabetes cases. The exact mechanisms to successfully prevent obesity amongst children are not yet understood, and this study will aim to establish the effectiveness of some methods.
The Starr foundation is based in New York and offers a variety of grants in the fields of medicine, culture, education and the environment.

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