While world health authorities address the spread of Swine Flu through vaccination programs and public health warnings, a silent epidemic is slowly enveloping a very precious section of our population — our children. The alarming rise of Type 2 diabetes in the 10 to 18 age bracket is potentially more damaging, but there is little public awareness of its effect.

There are two types of diabetes, both with similar symptoms, but with two different onsets:

• Type 1, or juvenile diabetes
• Type 2, or adult-onset diabetes

Type 1 is usually diagnosed early in life as a result of rapid onset of symptoms. The body’s immune system destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, requiring life-long treatment with daily injections and medications. The number of people with Type 1 diabetes is not increasing, so this is not the silent epidemic.

Enter Type 2 diabetes, usually occurring later in life, between 50 and 60 years old. Unfortunately, the past 10 to 15 years has seen a dramatic rise in Type 2 diabetes in the 20 to 30 age bracket, with serious long-term health consequences for victims. Type 2 diabetes is usually related directly to obesity and lack of physical exercise. It is a silent, creeping epidemic because it won’t become evident in obese children until they reach late teens or early twenties.

The first indications of this epidemic are already appearing among young people in their 20s who were obese as children. In 1985, estimates of Type 2 diabetes in children were around 1 to 2 percent. The figure was 17 percent by 1995, and in recent studies, some areas of the country are showing 30 to 40 percent of children with diabetes as having Type 2.

The rise of childhood obesity and the corresponding increase in the number of cases of Type 2 diabetes is not a coincidence. Type 2 diabetes is, in most cases, a direct consequence of obesity caused by two things:

• the amount of time spent being inactive, usually in front of television, computers or video game screens;
• eating too much of the wrong types of foods.

Early medical screening of at-risk groups can trigger intervention which usually centers on changes to diet, increased levels of exercise and weight loss. Often, this is the only action required, although some cases may still require insulin or other medications.

The most worrying feature of Type 2 diabetes is that most sufferers don’t know they have it. This is why it is called the “silent epidemic”. Early onset symptoms can be mild, so a person can appear to be healthy for years before the disease becomes apparent. In the meantime, it has been silently damaging the body, and if left untreated, can eventually cause blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and a shortened life expectancy.

Type 2 diabetes should be treated as seriously as any other impending epidemic — with health campaigns and specialist medical intervention. To do nothing will condemn a whole generation of vulnerable children to a lifetime of health problems.