Even if They Lose Weight, Overweight Teens are More Likely to Develop Diabetes and Heart Disease Later.
Overweight teens, even if they lose weight, still have an increased risk of developing diabetes or heart disease in their 30s and 40s. Science is beginning to understand this relationship much better. These teens have persistently activated genes that produce hormones and enzymes that cause diabetes and heart disease. Dietary environmental factors like fast food, processed food, and soul food lead to excess abdominal fat and that induces persistent changes in gene expression leading to a phenomenon of metabolic memory. The new science of epigenetics is providing tremendous insights into how metabolic memory works and how we can address it. The epigenetic changes are less extensive and intense in obese children than they are in adult diabetic individuals.
Overeating and obesity prior to having children increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease in the next two generations. Adult diabetic patients—especially those with poor glucose control—have persistently activated more genes more intensely than teens who are overweight. Lifestyle changes and losing weight can bring the glucose to normal but the cardiovascular and higher glucose risk remain. You cannot reverse the cardiovascular risk of diabetes entirely. The risk of kidney failure, heart attack, and other catastrophes remain. If someone approaches you and they claim they can reverse diabetes, you should insist on seeing their impact on diabetic complications and healthcare costs. A high glucose is just part of the complex biology of diabetes. Many genes are persistently activated in a disorganized and damaging fashion.
Industry is making your children sick for the rest of their lives. They have learned that sugar, carbs, fat, and salt in certain combination are irresistible. They are addictive. Then they bomb your kids incessantly with cartoon advertising to get your children to demand sugar-laden juices, cereals, and fast food. As a consequence, most kids today are too heavy. It is cause and effect. Instead, feed them whole, real food. Lean meat, eggs, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, and nuts.
These factors also increase the risk of cancer. We have learned about many of the genes that are persistently activated. Most importantly, ACE inhibitors like lisinopril, ARBs like losartan, statins, metformin, MRAs like spironolactone, SGLT2 inhibitors like Jardiance, aspirin, caloric restriction, intermittent fasting, and exercise block the effects of these genes. These interventions reduce oxidative particle formation, inflammation, death of functional cells in vital organs, and scar tissue growth that comes from these epigenetic changes. Together they make up optimal medical therapy which is much more effective than the care most people receive. It is so frustrating. A huge body of evidence from multiple scientific disciplines provides a path to better more effective care provided by teams focused on chronic disease that are using population health tools and protocols. We could have longer healthier lives now. Perverse financial incentives stand in the way and most patients don’t get optimal medical treatment. If this information is valuable to you, please sign up for a free subscription.