NYU Langone Medical Center The danger posed by both obesity and diabetes are well known and the following article reveals the possible effects of the two diseases in teens. A latest study triggered but the NYU Langone Medical Center affirms obese youngsters with type 2 diabetes to have declined cognitive performance and subtle abnormalities in the brain. The findings were ascertained after detections using MRI.

The results highlight the importance of understanding inactivity and obesity. Both of them are regarded crucial risk factors for the development of the disease among youngsters by scientists. In the study, 18 obese adolescents with type 2 diabetes were compared to equally obese teenagers. It was mentioned that the obese teens belonged to the same socioeconomic and ethnic background and did not reveal any signs of marked insulin resistance or pre-diabetes.

“This is the first study that shows that children with type 2 diabetes have more cognitive dysfunction and brain abnormalities than equally obese children who did not yet have marked metabolic dysregulation from their obesity. The findings are significant because they indicate that insulin resistance from obesity is lowering children’s cognitive performance, which may be affecting their ability to perform well in school,” remarked Antonio Convit, MD, professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.

The outcome was that youngsters suffering from type 2 diabetes reported diminished performance on tests gauging overall intellectual functioning, memory, and spelling. This reduction can possibly affect their school performance. These teenagers also seemed to have abnormalities in the integrity of the white matter in their brains.

Dr. Convit commented, “We have previously found brain abnormalities in adults with Type 2 diabetes, but believed those changes might have been a result of vascular disease. Now we see that subtle changes in white matter of the brain in adolescents may be a result of the abnormal physiology that accompanies type 2 diabetes. If we can improve insulin sensitivity and help children through exercise and weight loss, perhaps we can reverse these deficits.”

A possibly remedy to avoid obesity and type 2 diabetes is turmeric. The new study calls for the need of exercise and diet to reverse the inadequacy. It was suggested that boosting insulin sensitivity and daily regimen of exercise along with a healthy diet may help such adolescents.

The study was published online on July 30, 2010 in the journal Diabetologia.