Is your child at risk of diabetes?

Today Online – Balvinder Sandhu

“Carrying excess weight comes with a whole set of health problems, with one of the biggest being the risk of diabetes. “Type 1 diabetes used to be known as childhood diabetes as many patients are diagnosed from a young age,” said Dr Tan. “The incidence, however, remains stably low in our population (2.46 per 100,000 for children one to 12 years). Type 2 diabetes used to be more common in adulthood but is increasingly being diagnosed in children due to the increased incidence of obesity.” Dr Tan added that while Type 1 diabetes is generally associated with a genetic predisposition, Type 2 diabetes tends to be linked to more modifiable lifestyle factors such as obesity, having a sedentary lifestyle and having unhealthy dietary habits. ” (more)

Screen time linked to diabetes

Medical X-Press – Staff Writer

“Daily screen time of three or more hours is linked to several risk factors associated with the development of diabetes in children, according to a study by St George’s, University of London. Both adiposity, which describes total body fat, and insulin resistance, which occurs when cells fail to respond to insulin, were affected by longer hours of watching television and using computers. The research has been published online in Archives of Disease in Childhood.” (more)

Nutrition: Get kids involved in the kitchen, garden

The Duluth News Tribune – Brenda Schwerdt

“Studies have proven that when kids are able to be involved in gardening, their fruit and vegetable intake increases. Kids can develop a sense of ownership when helping select items at the grocery store or selecting items for meals. Benefits of eating together for family meal time include developing a foundation of lifelong healthy eating habits, maintaining a healthy weight and even performing better in school. So how do we get our young kids to take an interest in a healthy diet? I’m living through that question everyday because luckily my 16-month-old demands to help out in the gardens and while cooking.” (more)

Denver community gardens do the impossible: Make kids excited about broccoli

The Know – Graham Ambrose

“Clayton Early Learning, an early childhood care and education center in northeast Denver’s Clayton neighborhood, uses community gardens to get children excited about eating healthy food. Each weekday, teachers lead a group of tots at Educare Denver, a preschool at Clayton Early Learning, outside to work in 40 6-by-3-foot raised garden beds, watering plants, picking ripe fruits and vegetables and learning to recognize the names, scents, tastes and textures of the crops. What begins as a vocabulary lesson in class (“What’s a zucchini?”) slowly gives way to more complex lessons on horticulture, botany and how to care for living things.” (more)