A study on diabetes in youth in United States reveals very disturbing results that Type 2 diabetes, often associated with lifestyle factors, rose 30% among 10- to 19-year-olds from 2001 to 2009.

"A growing percentage of the state's children aged 10-17 years are overweight or obese, exceeding the national rate for childhood obesity," according to John Guzzardo, Executive Director of the American Diabetes Association's Louisiana office. "Passive activities and culture's growing dependence on convenience foods are contributing to this. These negative factors are probably partially to blame for the increase of Type 2 diabetes in children in Louisiana where the study was conducted."

"In puberty, kids produce a lot of pubertal hormones and growth hormone," said the researcher Dr. Neslihan Gungor. "Growth hormone usually works against insulin, so a child who has an intact pancreas would produce more insulin during puberty to overcome that physiological insulin resistance. A healthy pancreas is able to do that. But kids with risk markers are unable to make that adjustment."

Among the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes are obesity or overweight, family history of diabetes and exposure to high glycemic levels in utero. "If a mother had diabetes during pregnancy, her offspring are at more risk to develop diabetes and conditions like obesity," Gungor said."

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