‘Wake-Up Call’: Nearly 33% of All US Teens Are at Risk for Long-Term, Debilitating Health Issue
Recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that nearly one-third (32.7%) of American adolescents aged 12-17,approximately 8.4 million youths, have prediabetes, placing them at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Health officials, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have declared this trend an “existential threat” to national health. Prediabetes in youth indicates elevated blood sugar levels that, while not yet diabetes, signify significant stress on the pancreas and a rapid potential progression to type 2 diabetes, which can cause serious early-life health complications. Although the rates of prediabetes have more than doubled over two decades, experts emphasize that lifestyle changes such as healthier eating and increased physical activity can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. Kennedy advocates for improved access to nutritious foods and education to combat this growing health crisis through initiatives like “Make America Healthy Again.”
Almost a third of American adolescents are on the road toward diabetes, according to new data.
“In 2023, an estimated 8.4 million adolescents aged 12-17 years, or 32.7% of the US adolescent population, had prediabetes,” the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report.
As noted by the New York Post, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been saying that rates of diabetes and prediabetes among young Americans are an “existential threat” to the nation’s health.
“These new prediabetes data among adolescents serve as a wake-up call. Type 2 diabetes is a significant threat to the health of our nation’s young people,” Christopher Holliday, director of CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, said in a statement, according to Stat.
When my uncle was president, childhood diabetes was almost unheard of. Now, 1 in 3 kids is diabetic or pre-diabetic. We understand what’s driving this epidemic, and we have the power to stop it. It begins with what we eat. It’s time to take back our children’s health and Make… pic.twitter.com/mqjzFeIjD4
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) July 9, 2025
“The good news is it’s not too late to change course. Simple lifestyle changes — like healthy eating and staying active — can make a big difference in preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes,” he said.
Youth with prediabetes have blood sugar levels that are above normal, but not at the level required for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, according to ABC.
Meg Bensignor, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine, told Stat that prediabetes does not ensure a child will develop type 2 diabetes, but it is hardly good news.
“If you have prediabetes, that already tells you that your pancreas and your beta cells specifically are under a lot of stress, and certainly we know that kids with type 2 diabetes lose beta cell function much more quickly than adults,” Bensignor said.
“I pretty much treat everyone as if they’re going to develop type 2 because we don’t know, and getting type 2 in kids can be really devastating, with a lot of comorbidities early in their life,” she said.
The new numbers continue a trend, as noted by CNN.
A study of children between the ages of 12 and 19 found that from 1999 to 2018, the rate of prediabetes in adolescents more than doubled, from 11.6 percent to 28.2 percent.
“If we do not intervene, the children who have prediabetes have a higher risk of developing diabetes and also have a higher risk of all cardiovascular diseases,” Junxiu Liu, author of the study, said when it was published in 2022.
RFK Jr. has said changing what America eats has never been more important, according to NBC.
“In many cases, juvenile diabetes and prediabetes, which now affects 38 percent of teens, can be reversed completely by changing diet,” Kennedy said several weeks ago.
“Food is medicine, and food also affects mood, it affects mental illness, it affects the immune system, and we need to make sure our kids have access to good food and that parents have access to the best information so they can make good choices for their children,” he said.
Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative is part of President Donald Trump’s effort to overhaul America for the future.
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