Background of Pancreas and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Pancreas: is an oblong flattened gland located deep within the abdomen in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as an exocrine gland, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that pass to the small intestine. These enzymes help in the further breakdown of the carbs, protein, and fat in the chyme.
The pancreas can also be thought of as having different functional components, the endocrine and exocrine parts.
Diabetes Mellitus is a group of diseases characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action, or both. Diabetes is associated with serious complications and premature death, but timely diagnosis and treatment of diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of long-term complications (damage to the cardiovascular system, kidneys, eyes, nerves, blood vessels, skin, gums, and teeth). New management strategies are helping children with diabetes live long and healthy lives.
Type 2 Diabetes in Children:
Type 2 diabetes was once a disease that occurred primarily, if not exclusively, in adults. Today, however, the disease is increasingly appearing in adolescents and even in children.
Recent research offers these alarming statistics about type 2 diabetes:
The pancreas can also be thought of as having different functional components, the endocrine and exocrine parts.
- Islets of Langerhans: these are the endocrine cells of the pancreas that produce and secrete hormones into the bloodstream. Pancreatic beta cells are found in the islets of Langerhans, which are of various size and contain a few hundred to a few thousand endocrine cells.
- The pancreatic hormones, insulin and glucagon, work together to maintain the proper level of sugar in the blood. The sugar, glucose, is used by the body for energy.
- Acinar cells: These are the exocrine cells of the pancreas that produce and transport chemicals that will exit the body through the digestive system. The chemicals that the exocrine cells produce are called enzymes. They are secreted in the duodenum where they assist in the digestion of food.
Diabetes Mellitus is a group of diseases characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action, or both. Diabetes is associated with serious complications and premature death, but timely diagnosis and treatment of diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of long-term complications (damage to the cardiovascular system, kidneys, eyes, nerves, blood vessels, skin, gums, and teeth). New management strategies are helping children with diabetes live long and healthy lives.
Type 2 Diabetes in Children:
Type 2 diabetes was once a disease that occurred primarily, if not exclusively, in adults. Today, however, the disease is increasingly appearing in adolescents and even in children.
Recent research offers these alarming statistics about type 2 diabetes:
- There has been a 10-to-30 fold increase in American children with type 2 diabetes in the past 10 to 15 years. Most of these children are from ethnic groups at high risk for type 2 diabetes, i.e. African, Hispanic and Asian descent. Given that 77 per cent of new Canadians are from these populations, the rate of type 2 diabetes in this country is expected to increase in the next few years.
- One in every three American children born in 2000 will likely be diagnosed with diabetes in their lifetime; similar rates are anticipated for Canadian children.
- Type 2 diabetes is being diagnosed in Canadian First Nations children as young as eight years of age, and the incidence appear to be increasing rapidly.
- In the next 15 years, it is anticipated that the global incidence of type 2 diabetes in children will increase by up to 50 per cent.
- Most children and adolescents diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are also insulin resistant, and have a family history of type 2 diabetes. The increased incidence of type 2 diabetes in youth is a ―first consequence‖ of the obesity epidemic among young people, and is a significant and growing public health problem
- Children with type 2 diabetes also are at risk for the long-term complications of diabetes and the co-morbidities associated with insulin resistance (lipid abnormalities and hypertension