Health briefs: By 2030, insulin need may overwhelm the supply

December 14, 2018 at 6:06AM
FILE - In this April 29, 2012 file photo, a woman diagnosed with diabetes gives herself an injection of insulin at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, Calif. Transplants of insulin-producing pancreas cells are a long hoped-for treatment for diabetes, and a new study shows they can protect the most seriously ill patients from a life-threatening complication, an important step toward U.S. approval.
FILE - In this April 29, 2012 file photo, a woman diagnosed with diabetes gives herself an injection of insulin at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, Calif. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

As people around the globe continue to get fatter, diabetes rates will continue to rise and insulin supplies will be in short supply, a study warns. By 2030, an estimated 79 million adults with Type 2 diabetes are expected to need insulin. But if current quantities remain level, as many as 40 million sufferers could be left without it, said a report in the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

Children move less starting at age 6

Most experts believe that physical activity declines as children reach adolescence, but a new study has found that the decline begins as early as age 6. Researchers measured physical activity at ages 6, 8 and 11 in 600 European children wearing activity trackers. The scientists found that average time spent in physical activity declined by about 75 minutes a day by the time the children were 11. The study, in Pediatrics, found that at age 11, the children were spending an average of almost two more hours a day in sedentary behavior — essentially, sitting still — than they were at 6. Only 63 percent of 11-year-olds were getting the recommended 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous exercise, compared with 82 percent of 6-year-olds.

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