Diabetes is a disease that leaves our levels of blood glucose, also called blood sugar, above normal.  People with diabetes have problems converting food to energy.  Normally, after a meal, the body breaks food down into glucose, which the blood carries to cells throughout the body.  Cells use insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas, to help them convert blood glucose into energy.

Diabetes in children
Years ago, it was very unusual to find a child diagnosed with diabetes Type 2.  Most adults have Type 2.  The body loses the ability to use insulin properly or may even become resistant to it.  Many overweight adults and children have high blood sugar levels and are insulin resistant.

These days, one in four children born in the UAE will develop Type 2 diabetes, according to the Department of Health and Medical Services.  The single biggest risk factor for childhood diabetes is excess weight.  Additional risk factors are similar to those for adults and include:
- Family history of diabetes
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Female gender

The epidemic of diabetes among children is associated with increasing levels of obesity in developed countries.  The combination of excess weight and lack of exercise more than doubles a child’s chance of developing diabetes.  The best thing parents can do to help their children (and themselves!) avoid developing diabetes is to ensure that they eat a healthy diet and regularly take at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise every day.

The most important thing to monitor to help diabetics live long and healthy lives is blood sugar control.  Exercise and lifestyle changes have now been proven to help achieve that control, with or without additional drugs.  The fewer additional drugs we take the better for our bodies.  Even better than treating diabetes is preventing it, and those same lifestyle changes can prevent or even reverse pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes.