Obesity and the insulin resistance syndrome
- Correspondence to:
Prof. D B Dunger
Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK; dbd25cam.ac.uk
Commentary on the paper by Viner et al (see 10)
The increasing prevalence of obesity during childhood in the UK has been highlighted by several recent publications1,2 and has become the subject of considerable debate, not only in the media but also through the establishment of a select committee at the House of Commons and a working group of our own Royal College. The alarm bells have been ringing on the other side of the Atlantic for several years where the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes during childhood has been increasing dramatically.3 A paper from the Yale group published in 2002 reported the presence of impaired glucose tolerance in 20–25% of obese children and adolescents and a further 4% had undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.4 Other reports from the Bogalusa cohort in the USA suggested that as many as 50% of …
