Type 2 Diabetes and High sugar consumption among kids

Sugar consumption itself has become a disease. An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body’s blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so that when you eat sweets high in sugar, you’re making way for rapid weight gain.

A new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says the problem may be that the drinks fail to make people feel full in spite of being loaded with calories.

Caroline Apovian, a US nutrition expert writing a commentary on the study, says that the human race has probably not yet evolved to cope with these sugar-loaded drinks.

A single can may contain 40 to 50g of sugar. Somebody who drinks one can a day could put on 15lb over a year, she writes. She advises doctors in the US to tell their overweight patients to cut down.

Overweight Latino children who consume lots of sugar-especially in sugary drinks-show signs of beta cell decline, a precursor of type 2 diabetes, according to researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Nearly one of four Latino children in the United States is overweight, and the problem is worsening. Increasing obesity rates parallel the growing incidence of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes in overweight teens.

Beta cells in the pancreas create the hormone insulin in response to sugar from food. Cells in the body's tissues need sugar, or glucose, for energy; insulin helps cells grab and take up glucose circulating in the blood.

Sometimes, though, the body's cells gradually become resistant to the effects of insulin. In response, the beta cells initially create more insulin to overcome that resistance. But in certain people, when beta cells are faced with a difficult workload over time, the beta cells start to function less effectively and eventually produce less or even no insulin. Researchers believe this decline in beta cell function may result in the accumulation of sugar in the bloodstream that characterizes type 2 diabetes.

In the children studied, those who consumed more sugar on an everyday basis had signs of decreased beta cell function, implying they were heading toward type 2 diabetes. Sugars included glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose and galactose found in food and drink products.

Over-consumption can lead to hypoglycemia, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and chronic tiredness. Sugar can affect your health by suppressing the immune system. It can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression and concentration difficulties. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium leading to acute dental problems.

Refined sugar, because so many nutrients are removed from it, is believed to be more likely to produce diseases than unrefined sugarcane, which is rich in the glucose tolerance factor, chromium.

Source : Several Input

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