Children’s T2D Risk Reversible

A Danish study suggests that weight loss from childhood to early adulthood can reduce the increased risks of type 2 diabetes (T2D) among overweight and obese boys. The study included 62,565 Danish men. Overweight was defined as body mass index ≥17.38 at age 7, ≥21.82 at age 13, and ≥25 in early adulthood. Overweight at 7 (5.4%) and 13 (5.5%) years of age, or early adulthood (8.2%) was positively associated with the risk of T2D; associations were stronger at older ages at overweight and at younger ages at diagnosis of T2D. Men who had had remission of overweight before the age of 13 years had a risk of having T2D diagnosed at 30 to 60 years of age that was similar to that among men who had never been overweight (hazard ratio, 0.96). As compared with men who had never been overweight, men who had been overweight at 7 and 13 years of age but not during early adulthood had a higher risk of T2D (hazard ratio, 1.47), and the risk was even higher among men with persistent overweight (hazard ratio 4.14). Source: http://www.nejm.org/