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Dr. Francine Kaufman
Center for Diabetes, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
One in 3 children, born in or after the year 2000, is expected to have diabetes.
Q: Why are kids more obese now than ever before?
One is we have genes inside all of us that were designed for us to live in a very austere environment 40,000 years ago; and our genes have not changed. These genes enable us to store calories and to really be able to withstand those tough days with not much food. But what's changed is our environment. Our environment is toxic at this point, and that environment and our genes are on a collision course.
Q: Why don't we just make physical education a higher priority in schools?
We have "leave no child behind," so the schools are really incentivized, are scared to not have as much time at that desk as possible because those kids aren't gonna do well on the achievement exams. There's budget issues. There's not only like--who gets the money when these kids buy a soda in school? Who gets the money when these kids buy something off a snack line? How does that compete with the national school lunch program?
Q: Why are fresh fruits and vegetables more expensive than less healthy food?
We don't have a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables subsidized to give to children inside schools. So, there's a huge number of economic issues around that. There's a huge food industry that's made a lot of money over the last 3 decades on selling big packages of food. And the food inside, those chips, maybe those fries, they're not the expensive thing. Matter of fact, the packaging often costs more than the food inside.
Q: Why are people of color disproportionately impacted by diabetes and obesity?
Some of it is a real genetic influence. And then you take poverty on top of that, where you can't afford those fresh fruits and vegetables; you can't afford the gym membership; you can't afford to send your kids to the schools with the big gymnasiums and all these other things, and it becomes just an on-going cycle. Your neighborhoods aren't safe; no place to go for a walk on the weekend; and we see an explosion.
An international authority on diabetes and obesity, Dr. Francine Kaufman heads the Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. She's developed innovative programs for overweight and diabetic children and their families.
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National Diabetes Education Program is a partnership of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 200 public and private organizations.
The American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading nonprofit health organization providing diabetes research, information and advocacy.
The Diabetes Prevention Source provides tools, techniques and support needed to stop the progression from health to pre-diabetes to Type-2 Diabetes.
The Diabesity: The Obesity-Diabetes Epidemic That Threatens America—And What We Must Do to Stop It
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Published: September 15, 2005
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