Diabetes in children - these are the warning signs
Luise Heine has been an editor at since 2012. The qualified biologist studied in Regensburg and Brisbane (Australia) and gained experience as a journalist in television, in the Ratgeber-Verlag and in a print magazine. In addition to her work at , she also writes for children, for example for the Stuttgarter Kinderzeitung, and has her own breakfast blog, “Kuchen zum Frühstück”.
More posts by Luise Heine All content is checked by medical journalists.“Diabetes is a disease of old age” - that is firmly anchored in many people's minds. Type 1 diabetes is the most common metabolic disease in children. And the number of new cases is increasing. Those are the warning signs.
Sugar is an important source of energy for the body, which it burns or stores as needed. Normally. This no longer works properly in diabetics, because the sugar is no longer adequately channeled into the cells.
Doctors differentiate between two main forms of "diabetes". Most people are familiar with type 2 diabetes. In most cases it is an "acquired" condition. In the process, body cells become more and more insensitive to insulin - often due to a poor mix of an unhealthy lifestyle and poor genetic makeup. In a healthy metabolism, insulin ensures that sugar can get from the blood into the body cells.
Type 2 diabetes often occurs late in life, which is why the disease was also known as "adult diabetes" in the past. However, the number of patients has long been increasing in younger age groups too.
Misdirected immune system
With type 1 diabetes, the problem is different: here, those affected actually do not produce enough insulin. The fault is the body's own immune system, which attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and ultimately destroys them. Type 1 diabetes is therefore an autoimmune disease - and it breaks out especially at a young age. In numbers: 90 percent of diabetics in Europe under the age of 25 have type 1 diabetes.
The number of type 1 diabetes diseases has been increasing by around three to five percent annually for some time, especially in the age group from 0 to 14 years. In other words, while in the 1990s there were still 12.9 to 14.2 cases per 100,000 children, at the turn of the millennium there were already an average of 20.9 cases per 100,000 children. They usually fall ill between the ages of 10 to 15 years.
Suddenly bed-wetting again
As an autoimmune disease, diabetes can break out suddenly - with no apparent trigger. As a result, more and more sugar circulates in the children's bloodstream, which can cause some damage there. But even worse is the lack of energy, which gnaws at the reserves of the child's body. Because although there is plenty of fuel in the blood, the body cells threaten to starve to death and drain on their last reserves. In extreme cases, undetected and untreated diabetes can be fatal.
A campaign has been running in England since 2012 advising parents to look out for the "four T’s":
Toilet: The high concentration of sugar in the blood draws fluid from the tissues, which is then excreted by the kidneys. Diabetics simply have to go to the bathroom much more often when their blood sugar is high. It can therefore be a warning signal for children if they suddenly wet the bed again.
Thirsty (thirst): To make up for the loss of fluids, the little diabetics are very thirsty.
Tired (tiredness): People with diabetes are weak and tired, they do not feel efficient.
Thinner (weight loss): Many type 1 diabetics have a real cravings because the cells in the body crave energy. Even so, children with diabetes tend to lose weight, sometimes quite rapidly. Because by “burning” fat and muscle protein, the body tries to adequately supply the starving cells.
In addition, these signs can indicate diabetes:
- Visual disturbances
- increased fungal infections (in girls in the genital area; in babies in the diaper area)
- Mood swings
- dry skin
- poor wound healing
Risky genes and diet
But why does a child get diabetes in the first place? Genetics play a major role in type 1 diabetes. 10 to 15 percent of diabetic children have relatives who also suffer from diabetes. Interestingly, the chances of having children are three times higher if the father has diabetes than if the mother is ill.
In addition, there are many environmental factors that can apparently be responsible for an outbreak of diabetes. Children born through a caesarean section are more likely to get sick. Researchers suspect that the operation also affects the children's intestinal flora. And this has been shown to play a role in the development of diabetes.
There is also increasing evidence that diet in early infancy contributes to the risk of diabetes. Breastfeeding, for example, could have a protective effect. In addition, according to experts, no cereals containing gluten should be fed in the first three months of life - although such complementary food should not be fed before the end of the sixth month of life anyway, according to the current nutritional recommendations for infants.
No comprehensive screenings
Given the still low number of new cases in Germany, it is unlikely that widespread screening for children's diabetes will be introduced in the foreseeable future. This is different in Japan, where schoolchildren's urine is tested for sugar as standard. Because its presence is an important indicator of diabetes. In Japan, around 20.5 percent of diabetes diseases are discovered in this way. In Germany it has so far been left to parents to discover the typical diabetes warning signals in their offspring.
Tags: alternative medicine news symptoms
