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I was asked that very question by a writer for Today's Dietitian magazine. The article is in the August edition and can be viewed here. Please let me know your thoughts on the matter! Do you use them--why or why not?

I recently wrote an article for Today's Dietitian magazine discussing the complex problem of "diabesity" in America's youth. Diabesity is a term that was coined by former surgeon general C. Everett Coop to describe the commonly linked conditions of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

"Francine Kaufman, MD, an internationally recognized pediatric endocrinologist, describes her first pediatric case of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in her best-selling book Diabesity: The Obesity-Diabetes Epidemic That Threatens America — and What We Must Do to Stop It. It was 1995 and the patient was a 13-year-old girl weighing 267 lbs with a blood glucose level of 427 mg/dL.

Kaufman details her encounter with this girl and her initial confusion and surprise regarding the case. In the mid-1990s, it was not routine to find children and teens with type 2 DM since it was supposed to be a disease of aging. Unfortunately, times have changed and the number of type 2 DM cases among school-age children has mirrored the rapid increases in obesity rates among this group."

Read more of "Diabesity in Children — Epic Proportions of Disease Necessitate Major Action" in the May 2010 issue of Today's Dietitian.

Tuesday, March 23rd is American Diabetes Association ALERT DAY.

1 in 5 Americans is at risk for Type 2 Diabetes and nearly 6 million have diabetes and don't know it. To determine your risk, take this basic screening questionnaire. It'll take you less than 30 seconds.

To learn more about Type 2 Diabetes, please visit: stopdiabetes.diabetes.org