To be angry with Justine Roberts

[T1mum3]

For saying on Jamie Oliver's facebook live chat that we should tell children in primary schools that they will lose a limb due to diabetes if they don't eat right? I'm angry because amongst primary school age children in the UK 5355 have Type 1 diabetes, and 7 have Type 2. Type 1 is autoimmune so not related to lifestyle.

All those kids will be fighting day and night, taking around 6 injections a day or wearing an insulin pump (putting a cannula in every two days), pricking their fingers 10 times a day and counting every single morsel of carbohydrate that passes their lips to try and keep themselves well enough to go to school and take exercise. They don't need to know about amputations yet.

99 per cent of children with diabetes have Type 1. They are made more vulnerable to bullying everyday because of the obsession with childhood obesity.

Anyone who hasn't got the message about healthy diets and kids yet obviously needs some kind of intervention. Type 2 diabetes is a huge and growing issue. But making diabetes and amputations into a boogy man to scare small children is disgusting.

[CommanderShepard]

Are you sure it was MN Justine?

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

Yanbu

[OnceMoreIntoTheBleach]

YANBU if that's true, that's shocking

[OohMavis]

Sounds like a rather ill-informed comment.

[SamhainSoubriquet]

You what?!

[T1mum3]

CommanderShepard - yup, I just watched it again to make sure.

[MummyLikesWrapMusic]

Is there a link? Absolutely horrible if true (along with supporting that idiotic Jamie Oliver over anything).

[WorraLiberty]

Have you contacted Justine about this?

I hope so, otherwise this thread is a bit 'off'.

If you haven't, perhaps you might like to report it and ask her to reply?

[T1mum3]

It's on Jamie Oliver's Facebook page www.facebook.com/jamieoliver/ as part of the life chat and the comment is made at 40 minutes into the chat.

BTW it's in response to a really good question around how we help teenagers who are in control of their own budgets make good choices.

[perfumedlife]

YANBU but this is a frequent error made by well meaning people. There is also latent autoimmune type 1.5 diabetes, frequently misdiagnosed as type 2 lifestyle caused diabetes. <a class="break-all" href="http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2010/may/the-other-diabetes-lada-or-type-1-5.html?referrer=www.google.co.uk/" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">www.diabetesforecast.org/2010/may/the-other-diabetes-lada-or-type-1-5.html?referrer=www.google.co.uk/

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Goodness,did she really say that?!

[T1mum3]

WorraLiberty - I'm not sure why the thread is a bit off but I have contacted her via twitter, yes.

Hopefully she'll be able to come on here to explain what she said if she doesn't respond on twitter.

[user1477282676]

Was it definitely Justine though and not someone using her name?

[Itscurtainsforyou]

That's outrageous. Misinformed and dangerous.

What's more, non-obese people who eat healthily can also have type 2 (Steve Redgrave anyone?), so kids may now be terrified that a parent/friend who IS managing as well as possible could end up with a limb amputated.

[T1mum3]

No, it was really her, in person, on film. It's on the link above.

[MargoChanning]

I've just listened and yes, you're right, she does say 'diabetes' rather than 'type 2 diabetes'. But I haven't heard the whole discussion so can't comment further.

[OrangesAreTheOnlyFruit]

Just watched it. She used the blanket term diabetes, but then talked about associated risks with T2 diabetes but did not call it that. Also, there are long term effects of all typs of diabetes and it would have been better to have made it clear which type she was talking about and making it clear that T1 is not something that can be prevented by avoiding sugar consumption. Moreover, it would have been clearer to say how T2 can be addressed straightforwardly through lifestyle changes that can be addressed, if you like, preventatively, from childhood. Most worryingly, Dr Dawn Harper just sat there and nodded along.

[LurkyLurkerMcLurkface]

It was probably a misjudged comment.
However, maybe if the consequences of obesity are better known earlier it can be better prevented.
It is true and awful that type 1 diabetics have so much to cope with, but this is what will most likely happen if they are not careful with both diet and insulin. I have met teenage diabetics who are going blind, or are already losing sensation in their hands or feet after not controlling their diet, or taking reduced insulin to lose weight.
I'm a fat woman who has a 40-60% chance of being diabetic by the age of 40 (following gestational diabetes ) it also raises DS's risk. Maybe if I'd have known the consequences when I was young, when my disordered eating started it would be different.

[user1477282676]

I've just watched it and don't think she said anything really wrong...it was more phrasing.

"If we tell kids diabetes could make one of their limbs fall off...."

Well it could! She was talking about educating kids...what COULD happen if they got overweight so badly that they got diabetes type 2...she never specified WHICH diabetes she meant but we all know which she meant....and it wasn;t type 1.

And I'm sure if we asked her how the children should be told about this risk...then she'd agree that of course the difference should be explained...

[T1mum3]

MargoChanning: I actually think even if she'd said "Type 2" diabetes it would be unpleasant and counterproductive - it still contributes the "diabetes as boogy man" sense. But yes, not defining which kind is really, really problematic for me.

[allowlsthinkalot]

YANBU.

My daughter has MODY (monogenic diabetes) and we have friends with T1 children. Before she was diagnosed I had no idea how hard these are to manage and really thought it was a case of an injection before meals and they function like someone without diabetes.

I hate the stigma around T2 though. It isn't direct causation, obesity is a risk factor.

And shaming people, especially children, who are struggling with weight issues is not acceptable or helpful.

So the comment is hideous on many levels.

[MrsGwyn]

I think it would be a inappropriate thing to stress to any children.

My DC have a GP in their 70 who is type 2 diabetic and a Great GP at 90 who is - they have no control over these adults lifestyles and they don't need to worry more about their health. Incidentally despite having health problems neither is facing losing any limbs yet or in the foreseeable.

My children have a healthy weight, eat well and have plenty of exercise.

I found the food education is school to be very bad and often not accurate - TBH with an 11 year old girl I'm more looking out for faddy eating, body issues and anorexia.

I do think poor diet and overweight children need to be tackled - I see a lot of my DC school but I don't think scaring a lot of children with horror stories is a better bet than educating parents about healthy eating and encouraging exercises in the children.

[Jemimapyjamas]

I have Type 1. The confusion about the two types really upsets me. I am a reasonable weight and very healthy and fit but still have people assuming I brought it on myself and 'deserve it.' Comments about 'diabetes' bankrupting the NHS and so on make a tricky condition feel like something to be ashamed of.

[TheNameIsBarbara]

Hang on, I thought amputation could happen with both T1 & T2 diabetes. I thought it was down to poor management of diabetes (generally) and should be caught by medical professionals long before then, or is that incorrect?.

However, I won't be telling my DC about amputations. I have one child with diabetes and it has been hard enough getting my child used to the routine of insulin and blood testing, without scaring the shit out of them as well.

It is a poor message to send out, however there is an obesity issue in the younger generation, but surely that is for parents to tackle, and educate their children how to eat correctly, instead of threatening them with losing limbs.

[JustscreamMumsnet]

Hiya,
You're right I did mean Type 2 and I should have been more specific - apologies for that. It's actually a great shame these 2 very different conditions share the same name - a point Dr Dawn Harper, the GP on the panel, was lamenting before the event.

I do, however, believe children should be educated on nutrition and the potential damage to long term health of our current eating habits. Quite apart from consequences for individuals (there are more than 135 diabetes amputations in the UK every week now.) the current prediction, if we carry on as we are, is that the NHS could be bankrupted within 20 years. If we believe sex education is important in primary schools, why not health/nutrition education?