NEWS: Netflix generation of youngsters leading to type 2 diabetes ‘tidal wave’ says global expert
Young people brought up on Netflix, YouTube and gaming is leading to a new culture of “sedentary children”, with a leading professor calling for urgent action to “change mindsets” following the publication of a global report
Screen time is behind a generational change, with the time children under the age of two spend on digital devices more than doubling over a 17-year period, Professor Melanie Davies, CBE has said.
With rates of type 2 diabetes among children and young people soaring, Professor Davies has called for health bosses across the planet to follow the Leicester approach to combating the condition; with the city becoming a new academic force after decades of research into education and new therapies.
Professor Davies CBE, who was one of 26 global experts who came together for a high-profile Lancet report into the challenge of type 2 diabetes, believes “the time to act is now to avoid further heartache and misery caused by the condition” as well as the financial burden placed on health services.
Scientists from the internationally-acclaimed Leicester Diabetes Centre have been ahead of the curve in type 2 diabetes research, prevention and education, having developed the first national programme to educate people with diabetes and also establishing a comprehensive training suite to upskill healthcare professionals.
Melanie Davies, who is a Professor of Diabetes Medicine and Co-Director of the Leicester Diabetes Centre (LDC), collaborated with leading experts over four years to co-author the new Lancet report. Now published in the high-impact journal, it is calling for global action to combat this devastating disease and close the gap in diabetes prevention, professional knowledge and care.
In a talk following the launch of the Lancet’s new Commission on Diabetes, Professor Davies said:
“There is a new generation of children being brought up watching Netflix and YouTube and unfortunately this is leading to a type 2 diabetes tidal wave among young people. We have a new culture of sedentary children and we need urgent action to change mindsets when it comes to diet and lifestyle, the time to act is now to avoid further heartache and misery caused by the condition.
“Type 2 diabetes is a growing global problem with a devastating impact. While effective treatments and prevention strategies to combat diabetes exist, barriers to provision and access mean that, in most care settings, their use is scarce.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of people with diabetes. They have twice the increased risk of severe disease or death from the virus, especially in individuals with poorly controlled diabetes, or who have diabetes-related complications, but the risk is also exacerbated by social conditions in disadvantaged communities that lead to lower access to care and higher rates of comorbidities.”
Worldwide, 463 million people have diabetes, and on average, diabetes reduces life expectancy in middle-aged people by 4-10 years and independently increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and cancer by 1.3-3 times.
The Commission had these key messages:
Access to insulin, education, and for blood glucose monitoring tools can prevent premature deaths and emergencies in young people with type 1 diabetes
There is a relationship between maternal hyperglycaemia and childhood obesity which will require strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes in young people (YT2DM)
The psychosocial needs, especially in YT2DM, call for personalised care for reducing premature development of long-term conditions and death
Environmental, behavioural, and socioeconomic causes of type 2 diabetes require a multitiered societal and population-based prevention strategy
The use of new therapies such as SGLT-2 inhibitors, and GLP-1 receptor agonists can reduce cardiovascular–renal diseases and death in patients with type 2 diabetes
Team-based care, which enables data collection in clinical practice, improves the quality of electronic medical records and establishes registers for risk factors, prevention, and treatment
Healthcare professional (HCP) training and upskilling, and use of technology can improve the accessibility, sustainability, and affordability of diabetes prevention and care
Providing a pathway for a model of care as set out in The Lancet report’s key messages, if initiated in the right way and supported by governments, can increase the lifespan of people by preventing and managing diabetes and other long-term conditions.
The team at the Leicester Diabetes Centre are paving the way in this journey, but there is still a distance to go in creating a world free of diabetes.
The recommendations of Lancet Commission on Diabetes are reflective and support the LDC philosophy of improving the lives of people with diabetes through research, education and innovation. The LDC team is already at the forefront in conducting research, reports and publications, with many of its own articles and data referenced in the report.
The LDC has led nationally and internationally with its DESMOND education programmes for the prevention and management of diabetes (Schreder, Northern). Our academics (Davies, Sargeant) lead the important research of YT2DM and we have a future pipeline of innovative research programmes to support these groups. This includes the recently formed group for our M3 research programme (Davies, Sargeant, Chan, Gregg).
Locally in Leicester, our Changing Cities programme is already a foundation for solutions to population-based strategies (Khunti, OConnell) and we have advocated access to new therapies and their benefits to reducing cardiovascular–renal diseases by leading national and international guidelines (Seidu, Davies, Khunti).
The unique position of the LDC in between the NHS and academia whilst being in a working clinical facility, has long supported the importance of HCP training and upskilling.
Our pioneering EDEN programme (Willcocks) offers a wide portfolio of courses that for many years have been accessed locally, nationally and internationally, either face-to-face or remotely. For higher education career paths, we offer a distance diabetes masters programme in partnership with the University of Leicester.
According to National Child Measurement Programme, England, 2018/19, obesity in reception-aged children rose by 9.7 per cent in 2017/18, with rates among pupils in year 6 also increasing by 20.2 per cent.
The amount of time that children under the age of two spend looking at screens on digital devices has more than doubled over a 17-year period, a study has found.