Ep 42. Can a 12 year old child have insulin resistance?
May 08, 2024
Dr Jenny Gourgari
Can children may become insulin resistant ? How early does this occur and what can we do to prevent this? How do you fix insulin resistance in children?
Manuscript presented: Jeffery AN, Metcalf BS, Hosking J, Streeter AJ, Voss LD, Wilkin TJ. Age before stage: insulin resistance rises before the onset of puberty: a 9-year longitudinal study (EarlyBird 26). Diabetes Care. 2012 Mar;35(3):536-41. doi: 10.2337/dc11-1281. Epub 2012 Jan 25. PMID: 22279034; PMCID: PMC3322712.
Dr Gourgari is a pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine expert and weight loss coach for teens with more than 15 years of experience. She helps teens build healthy habits that last, so they can feel happier, be more confident and love their body again .
Can children may become insulin resistant ? How early does this occur and what can we do to prevent this? How do you fix insulin resistance in children?
Manuscript presented: Jeffery AN, Metcalf BS, Hosking J, Streeter AJ, Voss LD, Wilkin TJ. Age before stage: insulin resistance rises before the onset of puberty: a 9-year longitudinal study (EarlyBird 26). Diabetes Care. 2012 Mar;35(3):536-41. doi: 10.2337/dc11-1281. Epub 2012 Jan 25. PMID: 22279034; PMCID: PMC3322712.
Dr Gourgari is a pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine expert and weight loss coach for teens with more than 15 years of experience. She helps teens build healthy habits that last, so they can feel happier, be more confident and love their body again .
This is the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens podcast. If you're a mom and want to help your child who is struggling to lose weight, you are in the right place. If you are looking for healthy lifestyle tips, dr Gorgery is here to help you understand the science around safe weight loss in teens and children, because what works for adult weight loss is not always the best for children. This podcast is for educational purposes only. Dr Gorgory does not provide medical, psychological or nutrition therapy advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems without consulting your own medical practitioner and now your host, dr Jenny Gorgory.
Speaker 2:
Hello. Hello, this is Dr Jenny Gorgory. Welcome to another episode of the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens podcast. On today's episode, I will try to answer one question I hear some parents have and they are surprised with the answer. The question is can a 12-year-old child have insulin resistance? And the answer is yes, absolutely. Now there are reasons to explain that and in fact, there was a great study that looked at what age does insulin resistance start in kids, and this was a study that was published in one of the greatest journals in medicine journal of diabetes care. The actual title of the manuscript is Age Before Stage Insulin Resistance Rises Before the Onset of Puberty. This was a nine-year study that was done by Dr Jeffrey and the group and it was published in the Journal of Diabetes Care in 2012.
Speaker 2:
And what the researchers did is they tried to answer that question, not only if a 12-year-old can have insulin resistance, but actually at what age do we start to see increased insulin resistance in children? So they go between the ages 5 to 14. They follow them actually over time from the age of 5 to the age of 14. They looked at their puberty, they look at their insulin and they look at their puberty and as they were taking all those measurements over the years, what they found was that they started to see increases in the insulin even before the onset of puberty. They started to see increases in insulin resistance even from the age of seven years of age. Now, of course, the question that arises is why does this happen and how can kids have insulin resistance even at a very young age? And what they found was that insulin resistance was associated with the of the body fat that these young kids have. So more fat deposit in younger kids, even though it's not associated with puberty, can lead to higher insulin resistance. Now, of course, when they go into puberty and when they get into these higher spikes of hormones that happen during the puberty, then they get higher insulin resistance. And as they get to their almost final adult height, then their insulin resistance gets better when the hormones of puberty calm down. So it is a long period during this time, like from starting as young as seven years of age until they're done growing.
Speaker 2:
And another question that comes is what can a child do to improve their insulin resistance? And why do we care if kids have insulin resistance at a very young age? We know from studies that insulin resistance and why do we care if kids have insulin resistance at a very young age? We know from studies that insulin resistance comes before diabetes. That's the first sign of prediabetes is when you get insulin resistance Before you even have diabetes, before you even have high sugar, the first thing that happens is you get high insulin. And what happens if you have high insulin for one year? Probably nothing happens if you get an insulin for high years. But imagine if your pancreas, which is the organ in the body that produces the insulin, is on the red for many years, starting even as young as seven years of age, and that, as I said, can be because of some deposity, that extra unhealthy, more unhealthy weight at a young age. Or if there are some other conditions that we can see high levels of testosterone, particularly in girls when they start to have earlier pubic hair, that can also be associated with insulin resistance. And also I know we see also earlier ages that puberty starts, so we do see some shift always towards earlier, younger age.
Speaker 2:
So what can kids and teenagers do to improve their insulin resistance? Natural ways and healthier habits. The easiest way to do it would be to be more active, go out and play, have at least one hour of physical activity is what is recommended by American Academy of Pediatrics. At least one hour of physical activity is what is recommended by American Academy of Pediatrics. And, of course, choose choices when you're eating that have more fiber and less refined carbohydrates. When you're having more of the natural fibers, that slows down the release of sugar from the stomach. That also slows down the release of the insulin from your pancreas. So increasing the amount of fiber or decreasing the total amount of refined carbohydrates that you eat during the day can help improve that insulin resistance. So it doesn't have to be an alarming effect. I mean, it is also part of natural human development that teenagers will go through the growth spurt, will go through these changes, and there is nothing and there should not be nothing to do to stop the normal puberty. However, when on top of that we add unhealthy habits, then that can make this effect even worse. So, as I said, it is possible to start insulin resistance as young as seven years of age. According to this study, it can be even earlier if there is unhealthy weight at a younger age. So we know that puberty is going to come. We know that puberty is going to increase the insulin resistance. But we also know there are natural ways that teenagers and children can do to minimize the effect of insulin resistance and they can have better future, better health and better outcomes when they become adults outcomes when they become adults. I know that diabetes is not the most common thing to happen in teenagers, but I can assure you it does happen and kids that have insulin resistance from a very young age are more likely to get and have diabetes at a younger age compared to kids that don't have.
Speaker 2:
Insulin. Resistance is simply because your pancreas will give up working, will give up producing the insulin that you need to prevent diabetes the more years you have your pancreas working on the red. So help your pancreas make healthier choices. Try to include some of the activities that you can do on every day. Have more healthier choices that have more fiber, more fruits and vegetables. Aim for at least five to six servings of fruits and vegetables and then you will improve your insulin resistance. That's all I have for you for today. I hope this was helpful and I will talk to you again next week. Take care.
Speaker 1:
If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, I invite you to come check out the Lyft program. It's Dr Gorgeri's 12-week coaching program for teens and their moms, where we take all this information, we apply it to your daily life and we work together so your teenager learns how to create a healthy lifestyle so they can feel happier, more confident, less stressed and love their body again. Visit the website at lifestyleforteenscom and click on the work with me and free resources to learn more about this program and get free help to start this journey right away. Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode of Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens.