Julie Dalton
Appearances
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I would also add. I would also add when we talk about moderation, I think we also have to talk about education, educating providers, health care providers, how to talk to caregivers about moderation, healthy foods and access to healthy foods. And then using the MyPlate or foods from someone's background that contain whole foods and vegetables and fruits.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And just learning how to plate your food can be important to attaining moderation.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Okay, so I'll just give some background. In 2023, MDH received CDC funding to implement a new strategy that reduces type 2 diabetes risk among children most in need. And the intent of the strategy is to implement, spread, and sustain one CDC-recognized, evidence-based family healthy weight program.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And so what we are doing at this state is we are conducting a landscape analysis to understand what is happening in Minnesota. Where is there most need? Which communities don't have access to family healthy weight programs?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And then from there, we will assemble a work group consisting of community leaders, health experts, and others that will select the best fit program based on community needs and resources. And then after that, we want to identify partners to implement the program for the identified communities. Now, we know that there are certain communities that have more disparities than others.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And those are the communities that we really want to invest in. So once a program is selected, the Minnesota Department of Health Diabetes Unit will acquire the program, will work on training the facilitators of the program. And then we also wanna spend some time addressing social determinants of health that can affect individual and community health directly.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
We think that goes hand in hand with prevention. And then after that, our hope is that we can scale the programs and adapt as we go. And one thing that I really want to point out is that we know that one program cannot be the program for all communities. And so we want to make sure that we are listening to what the needs are and adapting the programs to best meet people where they are.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, and I can add that I think this is a national problem. And I think that's what CDC is seeing as well. And I think currently one in five children and teens between the ages of two to 19 have obesity in the United States. And that's four times the rate of obesity than in the 1980s.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
So, yeah, we are working on building infrastructure to prevent childhood obesity so that we can then prevent prediabetes and type 2 diabetes for our children.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, I'm so glad we're talking about this because health is closely linked to the conditions in which people are born, where they grow, where they live, where they work, worship and play in age. And that's all part of the social determinants of health. And so we need to recognize that not everyone has the same opportunities to make healthy choices.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
In fact, it's unreasonable to expect that, you know, some people will change their behavior easily when so many other factors are affecting them and their ability to make healthy choices. So I really liked what Teresa touched on, you know, policy level change.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Sharing resources to people about food shelves or access to a gym, a place where they can work out safely if they don't have sidewalks or they don't feel safe in their communities. Things like that can help address social determinants of health.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, I'd like to add that, Clarence, you brought up such a great question as far as how can we really sit down and talk. And I think we have started to do this work in August of 2023. The Cardiovascular Health Unit and Diabetes Unit joined forces to co-write a state plan, which is a roadmap for how we want to address these chronic conditions moving forward through 2035.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And we identified 10 outcomes through an extensive community engagement. And through that process, one thing that stood out to me is that the community wants a seat at the table from the very beginning. And so with this work that we're doing with childhood obesity prevention and also type 2 diabetes prevention, we are working to put together groups where we can listen to community voices.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
so that we can choose programs that are appropriate for the communities that we are wanting to serve. And so, and through that, you know, those conversations, we're going to have to talk about some hard things. And we're going to have to pull in some other people to help us address some of these issues and inequities that communities are facing.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
That is a great question. And for me, I think it comes down to this deep knowing that not doing anything is not a choice. We have to do something. And change takes a long time. Adoption of healthy lifestyle changes is
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
doesn't happen overnight it takes time people need to hear the same messages about obesity overweight pre-diabetes type 2 diabetes over and over and over before it finally clicks and they're motivated to make changes so um you know we have evaluation um measures in place And that tells part of the story. And I think also hearing from community, that's another part of the story.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
So when we put all these things together, I think that's when we know that we're making a difference because we hear it from community. Okay. Yeah. My grandmother is taking, you know, so-and-so to the class and word spreads eventually. So this will take time. for us to see a change, but we have to start. We don't have the option to not.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, so to answer or to add on to the COVID conversation, I think we saw increases in weight and definitely increases in food insecurity, which all leads to, you know, increased rates of type 2 diabetes. I saw a recent study that said visits to the food shelf have increased substantially in 2023, an increase of 1.8 million food shelf visits in 2023 with 7.5 million total visits.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
So I think, you know, food insecurity is something that we need to address.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, and I'd also like to add that, you know, if we talk about type 2 diabetes, we also have to mention prediabetes. And according to the CDC, one in five adolescents and one in four young adults are living with prediabetes. And that is staggering. And so prediabetes is a serious health condition where blood sugar levels than normal, but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And this is something that we want to spend time discussing and also working on prevention and interventions.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, I'd just like to add that I feel like at the national level, we're starting to see the concerning trends that are happening with childhood obesity, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes. And I read a statistic recently, and it said if we do nothing, current projections are that 3 in 5, or 59% of today's children, will have obesity at the age of 35.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And then 85% of 12 year olds with obesity will still have obesity at age 35. And so really prevention is key. If we want to improve health, the health of our children, then we need to start early.