Childhood Diabetes and Diet and Exercise

Children with diabetes should eat a nutritious, balanced diet that promotes good health -- the same kind of diet all kids should eat. If possible, work with a dietitian to ensure that your child's meal plan accommodates his or her individual needs, which vary depending on the type of diabetes.

Likewise, all children with diabetes benefit from getting plenty of exercise, which helps control blood sugar, especially in type 2 diabetes patients. Aiming for 60 minutes of physical activity each day is a good goal. If your child uses insulin, gym teachers and sports coaches need to know.

Type 1 Diabetes

A child with type 1 diabetes needs adequate calories and nutrients to encourage healthy growth. The timing and size of meals are critical factors, since a premeal dose of insulin is necessary to keep blood sugar levels after eating. Parents often find that it's easier to keep a child's glucose in the healthy range if the family eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same times every day.

Diet for diabetic children
Children with diabetes need to cut down
on junk food and soda pop, and eat
on a regular schedule.

Since exercise can cause hypoglycemia, monitoring glucose levels is essential both before and after any kind of physical activity. That includes gym class, soccer practice, or an extended game of tag with friends in the backyard.

To prevent low blood sugar, a child may need to eat a carbohydrate snack before, during, and after exercising, depending on how long he or she romps around. Your diabetes educator can recommend how much food a child should eat to maintain healthy glucose levels during exercise.

Type 2 Diabetes

There is growing evidence that parents can pass along a genetic tendency to acquire type 2 diabetes to their children. But heredity is not destiny, so you can't blame genes alone when a kid develops the disease. Scientists know that excess body fat is linked to insulin resistance, which sets the stage for diabetes. And the formula for obesity is simple: eat too much, exercise too little.
 
No one is sure how many American children have type 2 diabetes, but their ranks are on the rise. In this country, the age of the average patient who is diagnosed with the disease has dropped six years since the late 1970s. Disturbing as this unwelcome trend may be, it seems less shocking when you consider these eye-popping numbers:
  • The amount of soda pop Americans consume has increased 500 percent over the past 50 years. The average adolescent gets more than 10 percent of his or her calories from the sugary, fizzy drinks.

  • The typical child in the United States eats 650 percent more fast food today, as measured by calories, than in the 1970s. That's an increase from 2 percent of total calories to 15 percent.

  • A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly two-thirds of American children between the ages of 9 and 13 engaged in no physical activity during school hours, while more than one in five didn't exercise outside school, either.

  • More than one-third of American children watch at least three hours of television on an average school day.
You don't need to read medical journals to know that these trends help explain the super-sizing of the American child that has occurred in recent years. But if you did, you would find plenty of studies, such as a 2003 report in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, which showed that children who watch more than two hours of television per evening have a 50 percent increased risk of being overweight, while drinking three or more soft drinks a day ups the risk to 61 percent.

Another study found that the likelihood of being obese increases 12 percent for every hour of television a child watches each week.

First-line therapy for most children who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes consists of strict orders to eat smaller portions, avoid junk food, put down the remote control or video-game joystick, come out of the Internet chat rooms, and get moving. Although many will eventually require medication to control blood sugar, some kids may be able to forestall or avoid glucose-lowering medication through improvements in diet and exercise alone.
 
What's more, eating healthier foods and exercising can reduce the risk of another threat for children with type 2 diabetes: cardiovascular disease. Although heart attacks are rare in children, studies show that damage to arteries begins early. That's particularly true in kids with type 2 diabetes, who often have elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure, in addition to insulin resistance.
 
A dietitian or diabetes educator can help you determine your child's specific dietary needs and design a meal plan tailored to your family's lifestyle and cultural preferences.

For more information on diabetes, try the following links:
  • Diabetes and Children: If your child has diabetes, he or she will have different needs than an adult. Find out how to manage your child's disease.
  • Diabetic Diet: Balancing your diet--not necessarily giving up favorite foods--is the key to controling your glucose level. Find out how, and why.
  • Diabetes Treatment: Living with any form of this disease means keeping a steady blood-sugar level. Find out how to treat the main types of diabetes.
  • Diabetes: This disorder in the blood can affect most of your organs. Learn how it works here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Timothy Gower is a freelance writer and the author of several books. His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including Prevention, Health, Reader's Digest, Better Homes and Gardens, Men's Health, Esquire, Fortune, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times.

ABOUT THE CONSULTANTS:

Dana Armstrong, R.D., C.D.E., received her degree in nutrition and dietetics from the University of California, Davis, and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. She has developed educational programs that have benefited more than 5,000 patients with diabetes. She specializes in and speaks nationally on approaches to disease treatment, specifically diabetes.

Allen Bennett King, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.E., C.D.E. is the author of more than 50 papers in medical science and speaks nationally on new advances in diabetes. He is an associate clinical professor at the University of California Natividad Medical Center and cofounder and medical director of the Diabetes Care Center in Salinas, California.

This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.