Title: Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity: The Link - Learning About Diabetes | Diabetes Self-Management
Headings: Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity: The Link
Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity: The Link
The role of insulin resistance in the obesity-diabetes link
How obesity contributes to diabetes
The obesity-diabetes link starts young
The sleep connection
Prediabetes and metabolic syndrome
What can I do about diabetic obesity?
Obesity: fact from fiction
• Overweight is the same as obesity
• An ideal weight is a healthy weight
• Obesity is detected through shrinking clothes and extra pounds

Content: The obesity-diabetes link starts young
The risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by age 25 quadruples in obese children. One large study in the United Kingdom examined electronic health records from 1994 to 2013 for nearly 370,000 children ages 2 to 15 for high BMI values indicative of childhood obesity. Researchers then looked at the diagnoses of either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes up to age 25 in those same people. Obese children had four times the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by age 25 compared to those children with a normal BMI during childhood. Historically, Type 2 diabetes had been considered an adult disease, but currently, Type 2 diabetes in children is being diagnosed at an alarming rate, with doctors attributing it to obesity, unhealthy diets, and lack of physical activity. Obesity is also an indicator of childhood Type 1 diabetes. Although Type 1 is an autoimmune disorder, factors such as obesity and insulin resistance further complicate the condition. In one study comprised of nearly 100,000 children who were monitored for weight changes during the first year of life, overweight and obese babies had a positive correlation with increased Type 1 diabetes incidence. The heavier the child, the younger the age of diabetes diagnosis. Although insulin resistance is not the main driver for Type 1 diabetes, this study shows that obesity does play a role and could explain why more children are developing both types of diabetes.