Type II Diabetes Rising in Kids
      
      Type II diabetes, often called adult-onset diabetes, appears to be striking more and more children.
      Several hospitals have reported soaring numbers of pediatric patients with type II diabetes in the past few years. Tallahassee Memorial Hospital's Diabetes Center, which serves patients from Florida, Georgia and Alabama, says type II cases among children have tripled in the past three years.
      The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last fall that people as young as 25 should be screened for type II diabetes. For decades, the common perception was that type II diabetes struck only middle-aged, overweight people. Doctors point out that increasing numbers of children are obese, which may explain why more kids are being diagnosed with type II diabetes.
      "With the epidemic of obesity or overweight individuals, which has affected all areas of the U.S., we are seeing more diabetes in general," states Dr. Luigi Meneghini, director of the diabetes clinic at the University of Miami.
      Type 1 diabetes normally affects children and is easier to diagnose than type II, which can go unnoticed for years. Type 1 is a more serious form of the disease in which patients are dependent on insulin injections. Type II is non-insulin-dependentand less serious, and patients do not need regular insulin injections. Nine out of 10 of the 16 million diabetes cases in the United States are type II.
      Children need to participate more in physical activity programs in schools and community centres to curve this trend. Part of the problem stems from the many junk foods children eat and drink, such as candy and soda pop. More emphasis needs to be placed on healthy food choices such as complex carbohydrates and veggies so that children grow accustomed to eating properly as they grow into adolescence.

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