It's a family affair dealing with kids with the disease

CHILDREN'S Hospital of Philadelphia is part of a national study called the Today trial, which is investigating ways to treat Type 2 diabetes in children and teens.

One question being asked is whether intensive efforts to improve eating and exercise habits can help control young patients' blood sugar, and the hospital is pairing kids with "personal assistants to the lifestyle intervention" - PALs for short - to help make healthy habits stick.

"It's very hands-on," says Dr. Lorraine Levitt Katz, a pediatric endocrinologist who's leading the Today study at CHOP. "The PALs will get out there and get on the track with the kids and their parents."

Note the word "parents." Although the Today researchers won't know for a few years whether the PAL approach works, pediatricians are sure of this much now: Kids don't adopt healthy eating and exercise habits unless the whole family joins in.

So be a pal to your own children and grandchildren if they're overweight or obese, which could put them at risk for developing diabetes when they're older. Katz has this advice:

_ Help them find an activity they enjoy, because children stick with exercise only if it doesn't feel like work, she says.

"For some kids, that might be basketball. For some it might be skipping rope.

"For kids who like video games, there are fitness programs and dance programs," Katz says. "Those have an incentive in them because they keep score."

_ Even if you're skinny, stop drinking soda, start eating more vegetables and get regular exercise - to affirm that you're all in this together.

"The key thing seems to be family support," Katz says. "If you expect a teenager to adopt a lifestyle change independently, it's not going to happen." *