It's not just in the US, Thumper, we have the same thing over here, and like you lot, it's not just an adult thing, our child health issues are getting very serious.

The thing is, if these kids are in poor health as kids, what are they going to be like when they are adults?

That is right. Even someone like me who has no knowledge of diabetes running in our family should be wary.

With proper management, health will not really be poor. But it is a lifetime management that a person will eventually get used to when taken as a habit.

What I meant was, that if children are eating too much of the wrong stuff and, combining this with a lack of excercise then how will it affect them in later life.

I say this, because a while ago I saw footage of working class families from the early 1900's. In all the hours of film I never saw one fat child.

Now admittedly we have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, in those days health care was poor and diet restricted, but how much worse (and what life will life expectancy be) by going to the other extreme?

In that case, the kids are at risk not only of diabetes, but of some other form of disease condition as well. Someone here said that type 2 diabetes has a higher incidence than type 1 and that is because of lifestyle changes. People nowadays eat more. A video I saw from about.com said that food portions today are at least twice the food portions in the 80's.

With increased awareness, like we are having with the exchange of ideas in this forum, then at least we can spread this information to people within our reach. Hopefully the people we know will be more conscious of their health.

Yep, I read somewhere that type 2 was getting higher.

What also concerns me though, is what is in the food, that is making certain conditions worse.

The amount of additives, preservatives etc are incredible.

From a personal perspective I cannot tolerate processed food at all. Even biscuits and cakes make me ill.

I also developed lactose intolerance, but only since companies started hydrogenising milk.

I mean, since when does milk last 7 or 8 days without going off? The natural product last about 2 even when chilled.
There is a lot going on out there that we aren't aware of and I'm sure it's contributing towards incidence of illnesses such as this.