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 Subscribe to Videos How to Prevent Prediabetes in Children

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM · September 3rd, 2014 · Volume 20
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Prediabetes is a disease in and of itself, associated with early damage to the eyes, kidneys, and
heart. The explosion of diabetes in children is a result of our epidemic of childhood obesity. A
plant-based diet may help, given that vegetarian kids grow up not only taller, but thinner.

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Prediabetes is not just a high risk state for the development of diabetes–prediabetes can be a disease itself. People with prediabetes may already
have damage to their eyes, kidneys, blood vessels, and heart.

Evidence from numerous studies suggests that the chronic complications of type 2 diabetes start to develop during the prediabetic state. So by the
time we have prediabetes, it may already too late to prevent organ damage, so best to prevent prediabetes in the rst place, and the earlier the
better.

Thirty years ago, virtually all diabetes in young individuals was thought to be autoimmune type 1 diabetes. But since the mid-90s we started to see
an increase in type 2 diabetes among our youth, particularly in the United States. Indeed, the term adult-onset diabetes has now been scrapped
and replaced with “Type 2” because children as young as eight are now developing the disease. And the e ects can be devastating. A fteen-year
follow-up of children diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes found an alarming rate in young adults of blindness, amputation, kidney failure, and death in
young adulthood.

Why the dramatic rise in childhood diabetes? Because of the dramatic rise in childhood obesity. During the past 30 years, the number of children
diagnosed as being overweight has increased by more than 100%. Once an obese child reaches age 6, it’s likely they’ll stay that way. And even if
they don’t, being overweight in our youth predicts adult disease and death regardless of adult body weight, even if we lose it.

Being an overweight teen may predict disease risk 55 years later. Twice the risk of dying from heart attack, more cancer, gout, arthritis. In fact being
overweight as a teen was a more powerful predictor of these risks then being overweight in adulthood. This underscores the importance of
focusing on preventing childhood obesity.

How do we do it? From the o cial American Academy of Pediatrics clinical practice guidelines. The problem appears to be kids eating too much
fat, and added sugars, and not eating enough fruits and vegetables.

Doctors, at every occasion beginning soon after a child’s birth, should endeavor to give sound advice regarding nutrition and growth so that obesity
and its complications may be curtailed. What might sound advice sound like?

The chair of the nutrition department at Loma Linda University published a paper suggesting not eating meat at all might be an e ective strategy.
Population studies have consistently shown that vegetarians are thinner than comparable non-vegetarians. This is from the largest such study to
date.

A body mass index over 30 is considered obese, 25 to 30 overweight, and under 25 ideal weight. The non-vegetarians were up at 28.8, the
average meateater in the U.S. is signi cantly overweight. As one gets more and more plant based the average BMI drops. But even the average
vegetarian in the U.S. is overweight. The only dietary group that was, on average, ideal weight, were those eating strictly plant-based. So that’s
about a 33-pound di erence between the vegans and the meateaters.

Vegetarian children grow up not only thinner, but taller. Vegetarian kids grow to be about an inch taller than other kids. Apparently meat intake is
somehow negatively associated with height.

I can just hear the dairy council saying it’s because all the milk the veggie kids must be drinking, but no. The veg kids consumed signi cantly less
dairy, and much lower animal protein intake overall.

Meat intake is apparently associated with growing wider, though. In school-aged children, the consumption of animal foods (meats, dairy, or eggs) is
associated with an increased risk of overweight, whereas plant-based equivalents like veggie burgers, veggie dogs, veggie cold cuts were not, and
the whole plant foods like grains, beans, and nuts were found to be protective.

This may be because plant-based diets are low in energy density and high in starch, ber, and water, which may increase feelings of fullness and
resting energy expenditure, meaning resting metabolic rate. Eating plant-based appears to boost metabolism, such that you just burn more calories
at rest, even when you’re sleeping. However, we’re not sure how much of the bene ts are due to increased consumption of plant foods versus
decreased consumption of meat.

Either way, plant-based diets should be encouraged and promoted for optimal health. Local, national, and international food policies are warranted
to support social marketing messages and to reduce the social, cultural, economic, and political forces that make it di cult to promote such diets.

For example, although the advice to consume a plant-based diet is sound, questions arise concerning the relatively high price of produce. Yes we
could reduce the burden of childhood obesity, prevent the further spread of the disease, but we need to ensure that plant foods are a ordable and
accessible to children of all income levels.

Fruits and vegetables may not t on the Dollar Menu, but our kids are worth it. Getting diabetes in childhood cuts nearly 20 years of their life. Who
among us wouldn’t go to the ends of the Earth to enable our kids to live 20 years longer?

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an
approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

DOCTOR'S NOTE
We make life and death decisions at the grocery store buying food for our family. It’s never too early to start our kids o on the right foot.
See my video Heart Disease Starts in Childhood.

And healthy doesn’t have to mean more expensive. Check out Eating Healthy on a Budget.

For some tips on getting our kids to eat their vegetables, see my videos Tricks to Get Kids to Eat Healthier at School and Tricks to Get Kids
to Eat Healthier at Home.

Once one has prediabetes, there’s a way to prevent it from progressing further. See my previous video How to Prevent Prediabetes from
Turning into Diabetes.

If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here.

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