Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Youth: A High-Risk Epidemic

Michael Naafs, A. B.

Department of Medicine, Naafs International Health Consultancy, Netherlands

Dr. Michael Naafs, A. B., Department of Medicine, Naafs International Health Consultancy, Netherlands.

Keywords: Type 2 Diabetes; Epidemiology; Pathophysiology

Abstract

A high-risk type 2 diabetes epidemic in children and youth worsens further, fuelled by an obesity epidemic. Low-income groups and ethnic minorities are most at risk. Present prevention programs will not knock down both epidemics. Governments should take their responsibilities, as 30 of them already did, and follow the 2016 call of the WHO to curtail sugar consumption by fiscal policies. Sweetened sugar beverages (SSBs) and cheap poor quality ultra-processed foods should be taxed up to 20% of the retail price Closing non-committal sugar covenants with the soft drink and food industry and simultaneously raising taxes on fresh fruits and vegetables as the Dutch did recently, is a bad example of what to do not anyway.

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