Diabetic teens skipping insulin to aid weight loss

Melbourne, November 14: In a risky bid to lose weight, one-third of young Australians afflicted with Type 1 diabetesdefine are missing out on their daily ‘life-saving’ insulindefine shots, collaborative research done by the Diabetes Australia and the Centre for Adolescent Health has found.

Type 1 diabetesdefine, formerly called the juvenile onset diabetes, is caused by non-functional beta cells in the pancreasdefine. Unlike the type 2 diabetesdefine wherein the body has problem processing the insulindefine the pancreas produces, in type 1 diabetes the pancreas fail to produce insulin, the hormone much needed to absorb body glucose.

Weight gain is often attributed as the most common side effect for insulin-dependent patients as the hormone-shots directly affect the fat-storing mechanism of the body.

The study, a survey of 243 Australians including 201 type 1 diabetics, was embarked to gauge the extent of manipulation in insulin intake.

While nearly one-third admitted on skipping their insulin intake, almost half did it on daily basis, researchers highlighted.

The practice typically prevalent in late-teens was particularly driven by the ‘body image issue’, researchers found.

"Just like other Australians, people with type 1 diabetes have issues around body image and weight, particularly given the current focus on the growing number of Australians who are overweight or obese," Dr Phil Bergman, a specialist in type 1 diabetes and adolescent eating disorders at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne noted.

But simply skipping insulin to aid weight lose could be risky preposition, researchers emphasized.

"The worry is that without insulin, blood glucose levels rise, and that leads to complications like life-threatening ketoacidosisdefine, a total lack of insulin in the body, heart disease, eye disease and kidney problems," Professor Jonathan Shaw, associate director of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne cautioned.

"So misusing the medication comes with heavy costs to your health and wellbeing," Shaw said.