As Diabetes Rises In Kids, So Do Treatment Changes

       In this article, Scott Hensley discusses the high rate of Type 2 diabetes among children. Diabetes is the disease when the body can't produce insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, there is a high level of sugar in the blood. Because of this, body fats, muscle cells and the liver don't respond to insulin, a hormone that regulates carbohydrates in the body. This is called insulin resistance. This article talks about how childhood obesity, caused by an imbalance of calorie intake and exercise, causes the Type 2 diabetes. Also, as mentioned in the article, an effective treatment for Type 2 diabetes is hard to come across. Children need to take more than one drug, like metformin, to suppress the disease and get their blood sugar level under control. Another thing that studies showed was that exercise and lifestyle changes didn't help children with Type 2 diabetes. The medication helped their health better than a lifestyle intervention. Children nowadays are living in a world where unhealthy, calorie-high foods are easy to come by, and the environment is such that exercise is hard to do.

       This article is relevant to Term 4 Biology because it is related to diabetes, a disease of the endocrine system. The endocrine system is a system that deals with the hormones of the body. Insulin is one of these such hormones. We will study the endocrine system later in the term. Also, the article deals with obesity, and an issue that stems from the digestive system, another body system we have learned about. Obesity is the condition of being severely overweight, caused by an excessive intake of calories into the body.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/04/30/151683942/as-diabetes-rises-in-kids-so-do-treatment-challenges

 Hensley, Scott. "As Diabetes Rises In Kids, So Do Treatment Challenges." NPR. NPR, 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 05  May         2012. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/04 /30/151683942/as-diabetes-rises-in-kids-so-do-treatment
challenges>.