Fighting Diabetes TODAY
from Shine Newsletter, Winter 2007
Think of three children you know who are 7 years old or younger - maybe a friend, family member or even your own child. Chances are one of them will develop Type 2 diabetes due to childhood obesity according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As many as 30 percent of children with diabetes in Colorado have Type 2 diabetes , which means their bodies either do not make enough insulin or their bodies do not use the insulin they make. To help fight this statistic, The Children's Hospital was chosen as one of just 15 sites nationwide to take part in the first clinical study of treatment for youth with Type 2 diabetes.
The Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth (TODAY) study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, uses weight management, drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration and increased physical activity to effectively manage childhood diabetes.
"TODAY is a one-of-a-kind study for children with Type 2 diabetes," says Phillip Zeitler, MD, PhD, endocrinologist at Children's. "In the past, we've treated diabetes in children exactly as if they were adults. We hope this fiveyear study will provide us with a better understanding of how to treat children with diabetes."
To enroll in the TODAY study call 720-777-3212, or learn more on Children's weight management programs such as GoodLIFE, SHAPEDOWN® and the Metabolic Syndrome Clinic .
We understand how important it is to you to protect your family from preventable diseases through healthy living, so look for more of these articles in future issues of Shine.
