Obesity, caused by dietary factors and physical inactivity, is probably the greatest scourge that future generations will face. In most societies, levels of physical activity have dramatically declined. International recommendations for minimum exercise requirements (at least 150 min of moderate exercise per week) only appeared in most countries at the beginning of this century. But are these guidelines too lenient? Beyond reducing and preventing obesity, physical activity has a myriad of benefits for people of all ages. Only certain types of saturated fatty acids—in particular, even-chain fatty acids that are associated with intake of carbohydrates and alcohol—are positively associated with incident type 2 diabetes. Food type, not just food volume, can be a cause of obesity and diabetes. People should be given all necessary encouragement and opportunities to follow these guidelines as a minimum requirement for good health. Children should grow up with the knowledge that eating a good diet and being physically active is the norm, not the exception. How essential is Physical activity and good diet to prevent type 2 diabetes in children?
Diabetes is a degenerative disease with the management and no cure yet thus the best strategy is to prevent it from developing or at least prevention of early development. Regarding this, the best strategy is a balanced diet and appropriate physical activity. My own research on diabetes patients suggests that the most important indicator of proper management of diabetes type 2 is physical activity. In children this is more important because this is the time when life-long habits are developing. If the children, particularly from the genetically prone families, develop a habit of regular physical activity then it may help a lot in prevention of development of type 2 diabetes and/or prevention of an early development.
Despite the health care institutions recommendation of at least 150-180 minutes physical activity , insufficient time has been allocated for this activities in most countries. However, the correlation between regular physical activity and type II diabetes might omitted the major risk factor which is fast food industry. We need to rationing the consumption of fast food meals on children daily intakes and then physical activity undoubtedly consider as a curative treatments and reduce the likelihood of prevalence of type II diabetes.
I am doing extensive research now in the field of nutrition concerning prevention of diabetes. I am a practicing family nurse practitioner and certified diabetes educator. My doctoral research is using Paleo eating patterns to prevent progression from prediabetes (A1c 5.7%) to T2DM. I believe we must stop telling America it is ok to eat "heart healthy whole grains" because that is an oxymoron. The species "human being" never adapted to eating the sugars we currently do in society today. Mimicking an ancestral diet rich in non-starchy vegetables, some fruit, healthy meats like grass fed beef, lamb, wild-caught fish, organically raised poultry and eggs and nuts/seeds will give you all the macronutrients one needs to remain healthy. Add to that a moderate amount of daily physical activity and one can avoid the myriad of "modern diseases of civilization". I understand it is difficult to teach to patients this "radical" paradigm shift from our carbohydrate obsessed society, but I've been teaching my diabetics Paleo eating patterns for 3 years with amazing results. Please consider this for your diabetic patients and it is particularly useful for those insulin dependent!
www.yourpaleopractitioner.com
Paleo diets are indeed good for preventing diabetes, but they are totally unsustainable for the world at large. By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, 34% higher than today. Just satisfying the expected food and feed demand will require a substantial increase in global food production of 70% by 2050. And the projection for the rest of the century is that the population will just keep on growing. Grass fed meat uses up vast amounts of energy, water etc, and wild caught fish are already in short supply. There is therefore a balance to be struck between preventing diabetes and providing enough food for the whole population. We should start with healthy diets for children, with less low cost junk food, and plenty of exercise. We should also make a great effort to increase the availability of contraception for those who want it all around the world.
Dear Mr.Tabish,
I do really agree with you that 150 min of physical activity per week is very lenient in the current scenario. Especially after the advent of wheels, worsened by invention of motors, machines, computers, video games, etc.
I believe that instead of using the term physical activity, ‘outdoor sports’ activity should be encouraged in children to overcome this prevalent problem of childhood obesity and to prvent DM in the future. Carbonated drinks, refined carbohydrates, high energy drinks, fries, red meat all have become inseparable part of the daily diet, each of which has individually proven to increase the risk of DM, let alone having them all each & every day. Main recommendation on top of reducing all these, is to replace the concept of normal snacking with healthy ‘fruit snacks’ to start a healthy eating pattern.
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