Eating habits and type 2 diabetes mellitus in adolescents: critical narrative review

Diabetes tipo 2 y hábitos alimentarios en adolescentes

Abstract

Lack of control over food causes health problems in young people, mainly due to ignorance and lack of implementation of an adequate diet. The objective of this article was to analyze eating habits and type 2 diabetes mellitus in the adolescent population. A critical narrative review was developed with certain systematized elements that were based on the exploration of specialized literature. The search was carried out in recognized databases such as PubMed, Scielo, Dialnet, Scopus, ScienceDirect and Redalyc. After applying the established criteria, 20 articles were selected from 196 possible full-text articles, which covered the years 2020 to 2025 in Spanish and English. The SANRA scale was used to assess the narrative quality of the article. The results agreed that type 2 diabetes mellitus in adolescents was related to poor eating habits, consumption of ultra-processed foods, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and low consumption of fiber and micronutrients, making them determining factors in the predisposition to this pathology. In conclusion, it was observed that a diet made up of a high intake of sugars and fats, together with a low consumption of fruits and vegetables, is linked to obesity and insulin resistance, determining elements in the early onset of this pathology.