Preventing and Treating Type 2 Diabetes Through a Physically Active Lifestyle

By the late 1960s, the increasing number of type 2 diabetic cases in children and adolescents rapidly presented a signifi cant public health issue recognized by the American Diabetes Association (2000). Since then, the prevalence of pediatric type 2 diabetes appears to be on the rise not only in the United States but all around the world (Gungor et al., 2005). In the United States, an increase from fewer than four percent to more than 50 percent of new cases of type 2 diabetes in the pediatric population was reported between the years of 1982 and 1998 (American Diabetes Association, 2000). An increasing percentage of pediatric cases of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes were also reported in population-based data (Gungor et al., 2005). Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss how regular physical activity can help to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes