The possibility of heart disease is a nagging worry when you have a child with type 1 diabetes. Sixty-nine percent of type 1 children have at least one cardiac risk factor.

After they reach their twenties, they are five times more likely to die from cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease than their peers.  But recent research indicates that something as simple as vigorous play for at least a half hour a few times a week can reduce such children's risk factors related to blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides.

To arrive at this conclusion, German and Austrian researchers analyzed 23,000 children between the ages of three and eighteen years. They found that the more active the children were, the less likely they were to have high cholesterol and triglycerides. Being active at least once or twice weekly also made children less likely to have high blood pressure than their sedentary friends.

Studies have previously shown that the more time kids with type 1 spend watching television, the higher their A1c's are likely to be. When combined with this most recent research, it's clear that frequent games of tag and hide-and-go-seek are not only fun - they're also critical to good health.

Sources: Medline Plus; Diabetes Care, August 2007