American Diabetes Association Urges Congress To Examine Ravages Of Childhood Obesity And Type 2 Diabetes

With all the talk of fat person diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, we sometimes forget there is an insipid form - diabetes insipidus.

Thanks to the ADA for reminding us how insipid it can be.

"The American Diabetes Association (ADA) today, applauded Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT), Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and members of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families for holding a hearing on, 'Childhood Obesity: The Declining Health of America's Next Generation.' Appearing before the Committee was Francine Kaufman, M.D., a prominent pediatric endocrinologist, past president of the ADA, and a distinguished professor of Pediatrics and Communication at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Kaufman shared compelling information based on her first-hand observations and research as a clinician, about the dangerous rate of childhood obesity cases among children and young adults, and the strong correlation between type 2 diabetes and childhood obesity. According to Kaufman, 'Children who are overweight, obese and unfit are at increased risk of developing high blood pressure, abnormal lipid levels, inflammation in their blood vessels and higher than normal blood sugar levels. These disorders are precursors of diabetes and adult-onset cardiovascular disease.'"

Kaufman is apparently another one of those law-breaking docs who sees fat, abused children and turns a blind eye to her responsibilities under the law, opting instead to hand-wring and lament.

"Kaufman went on to illustrate that one in three children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in his or her life, and that this statistic is nearly one in two for children in minority communities. 'Today, there is no doubt that obesity in youth, along with its associated medical conditions, is the major health challenge of this century,' said Kaufman. 'Despite the efforts of government and public health officials, the number of overweight and obese youth continues to increase. More needs to be done to combat the ever growing epidemics of obesity and diabetes.'"

The problem is clear.

It is not "despite the efforts of government and public health officials, the number of overweight and obese youth continues to increase."

It is because of those efforts. See here and here.

And the ADA has been in their camp all along.

Want to effectively fight childhood overweight/obesity?

• Stop repeating the mistakes of the past (also see here, here, here, here, here, here and here),
• Stop contributing to ADA until it gets itself in order (it understands money, even if it has no understanding of childhood overweight/obesity) and
• Step up to help the kids.

The sooner, the better.