World Diabetes Day: Preventing Type 2 Diabetes in children
Parents play a significant role in ensuring the risk for children developing Type 2 Diabetes is reduced.
A Durban dietician, Julie Peacock has been speaking to Newswatch, on International Diabetes Day.
Type 1 diabetes - non-preventable and common in children - is caused by an auto-immune onset, resulting in attacks on cells responsible for producing insulin. Insulin normalises the body's blood sugar level.
"There's usually an auto-immune dysfunction associated with Type 1 diabetes and often a genetic link. Sometimes it can be brought on by a huge shock - for instance a loss of a loved one or a very bad car accident. It's multi-factorial but usually attributed to an auto-immune dysfunction," Peacock explains.
READ: World Diabetes Day: Types and warning signs
Peacock says Type 2 diabetes - which also causes insulin resistance - is in some cases linked to being overweight or obese. This type is preventable. She says children are increasingly being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
"We are seeing instances of Type 2 diabetes in overweight children. It's parents responsibility to make sure that their children are healthy, they maintain a good weight, they keep active and follow a good diet," she says.
Listen as she explains how parents can better support their children - both in terms of preventative measures and a diabetes-friendly diet.