Double diabetes is a growing health threat among U.S. adults and children: NewsTarget.com

The obesity epidemic in the United States affects an estimated 20.8 million members of the population, and has become so widespread, doctors are now seeing patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes; a phenomena dubbed "double diabetes."

The condition, also known as "hybrid diabetes," is usually brought on when people with type 1 diabetes -- their bodies are unable to produce the carbohydrate metabolism regulator insulin -- become overweight or obese, said Dr. Stewart Weiss, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine. This opens them up to type 2 diabetes, which is diagnosed when the body becomes resistant to insulin. Usually, the type 2 is diagnosed first, because the weight of the patient is an obvious sign, but subsequent blood tests reveal the presence of type 1 as well.

Recent studies show that as many as 30 percent of newly diagnosed diabetes cases among children are double diabetes cases, and the hybrid disease is more difficult to treat than either type is alone. Type 1 diabetics are usually prescribed daily insulin injections and type 2 diabetics get their own, different medication to regulate blood sugar.

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Double diabetes is a growing health threat among U.S. adults and children

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