Understanding the unique nature of children’s bodies and brains

With the increase in childhood obesity and the associated increase in type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents, there is growing interest in how children’s bodies process the foods they eat and how obesity and diabetes begin to develop at early ages. Two studies presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 74th Scientific Sessions® help to shed light on this topic.

One study, by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, compared how the brains of adolescents and adults differed in their response to ingestion of a glucose drink. It found that in adolescents, glucose increased the blood flow in the regions of the brain implicated in reward-motivation and decision-making, whereas in adults, it decreased the blood flow in these regions.

"While we cannot speculate directly about how glucose ingestion may influence behavior, certainly we have shown that there are differences in how adults and adolescents respond to glucose," said lead researcher Ania Jastreboff, MD, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine. "This is important because adolescents are the highest consumers of dietary added sugars. This is just the first step in understanding what is happening in the adolescent brain in response to consumption of sugary drinks. Ultimately, it will be important to investigate whether such exposure to sugar during adolescence impacts food and drink consumption, and whether it relates to the development of obesity."

Another study, by researchers in Germany at the University Children’s Hospital in Leipzig, compared fat cell composition and biology in lean and obese children and adolescents. They found that when children become obese, beginning as early as age six, there was an increase in the number of adipose cells, and that they are larger in size than the cells found in the bodies of lean children. The researchers also found evidence of dysfunction of the fat cells of obese children, including signs of inflammation, which can lead to insulin resistance, diabetes and other problems, such as high blood pressure.

"Our research shows that obese children start to have not only more but also larger adipocytes, or fat cells, at a very young age and that this is associated with increased inflammation and is linked to impaired metabolic function," said lead researcher Antje Körner, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Researcher at the Pediatric Research Center, University Children’s Hospital, Leipzig. "What we were interested in was seeing whether something was already going on with the adipose tissue itself if the children become obese at an early age, and it appears that there is. It’s important because this can contribute to the development of comorbidities of obesity in children, such as diabetes."

Girls called ‘too fat’ are more likely to become obese

Calling a girl “too fat” may increase her chances of being obese in the future, new research suggests.

In a letter published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers at UCLA report that 10-year-old girls who are told they are too fat by people that are close to them are more likely to be obese at 19 than girls who were never told they were too fat.

And that’s regardless of what they weighed at the beginning of the study. 

"Making people feel bad about their weight can backfire," said Janet Tomiyama, an assistant professor of psychology at UCLA and the study’s senior author. "It can be demoralizing. And we know that when people feel bad, they often reach out to food for comfort."

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Severe obesity on the rise among children in the U.S.

A new study led by a University of North Carolina School of Medicine researcher finds little to cheer about in the fight against childhood obesity, despite a recent report to the contrary.

The study, published online first April 7 in JAMA Pediatrics, found that all classes of obesity in U.S. children have increased over the last 14 years. Perhaps most troubling, the study found an upward trend in the more severe forms of obesity – those in which children have a body mass index (BMI) that is 120 to 140 percent higher than their peers.

“An increase in more severe forms of obesity in children is particularly troubling,” said Asheley Cockrell Skinner, PhD, lead author of the study and assistant professor of pediatrics in the UNC School of Medicine. “Extreme obesity is more clearly associated with heart disease and diabetes risk in children and adolescents, and is more difficult to treat.”

These findings are based on a new analysis of data collected from 26,690 children ages 2-19 from 1999 to 2012 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

(Image: Getty)

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