Kids hit with a double whammy of diabetes

Health experts report a rising incidence of "double diabetes" patients: children with symptoms of both type 1 and type 2 versions of the disease.

Type 1 diabetes, usually diagnosed in children or teens, is the result of the body's inability to make insulin, which raises levels of blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes, traditionally found in overweight and inactive adults, occurs when the body's cells become resistant to insulin, also resulting in high sugar levels, which in turn raise the risk of Heart disease, Blindness and kidney damage. Type 2 is increasingly being diagnosed in children who are heavy and sedentary, and clinicians are noticing an overlap of the two conditions in children.

Dorothy Becker, chief of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, reported on the condition - sometimes called type 1.5 or type 3 diabetes - recently at an American Diabetes Association meeting.

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Overview Type 1 diabetes mellitus, more commonly known as type 1 diabetes, is a disease in which the pancreas produces too little insulin to meet the body's needs. Insulin is a hormone that helps control the level of glucose in the blood. Glucose is the main form of sugar in the body. In a study published in 2003, Becker and her team followed 260 youths diagnosed with diabetes and treated with insulin from 1979 to 1998. "We found that 25 percent of children who had Type 1 Diabetes developed features of type 2 diabetes."

The study also showed that more than 50 percent of overweight children with Type 2 diabetes had features of Type 1 Diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes
A main component of type 2 diabetes is "insulin resistance". This means that the insulin produced by your pancreas cannot connect with fat and muscle cells to let glucose inside and produce energy. This causes hyperglycemia (high blood glucose).

To compensate, the pancreas produces more insulin. The cells sense this flood of insulin and become even more resistant, resulting in a vicious cycle of high glucose levels and often high insulin levels.

Type 2 diabetes usually occurs gradually. Most people with type 2 diabetes are overweight at the time of diagnosis. However, the disease can also develop in lean people, especially if elderly.