Obesity is blamed for surge in childhood diabetes

THE rise in obesity has been blamed for a 14 per cent increase in cases of Type 2 diabetes among children and young adults.

More than 600 developed the condition – usually associated with middle-aged adults – last year, according to new figures.

A report from the Local Government Association, the umbrella body for councils, said yesterday the increase in cases of the largely preventable disease was a ‘hugely disturbing trend’.

Figures from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health showed 621 children and people under the age of 25 received care from paediatric diabetes units in England and Wales in the financial year that ended in March 2016.

Of these, more than three-quarters (78.5 per cent) were children considered to be obese. Fifteen of the children with Type 2 were aged between five and nine.

The total represented an increase of 76 cases over those recorded in 2014/15.

The full number of young people with Type 2 diabetes may be even higher because the figures are only for those treated in paediatric practice, and not in other branches of the NHS.

Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to lifestyle issues such as unhealthy eating or lack of exercise. It is usually seen only in adults over 40.

The first cases of Type 2 diabetes in children were diagnosed in overweight girls of Asian ethnic origin in 2000. Among white adolescents, the first cases were in 2002.

The LGA said the latest increase represented one of the country’s biggest public health challenges.

It added that ministers should reverse cuts to councils’ public health budgets that local authority bosses say have hindered their ability to tackle childhood obesity.

Izzi Seccombe, of the LGA, said: ‘These figures show a hugely disturbing trend in the increasing number of children and teenagers being treated in paediatric diabetes units for Type 2 diabetes, a condition normally only associated with adults.

‘Obesity is usually linked with major health conditions later on in life, but already we are seeing the devastating consequences at an early age.’

Figures show nearly 20 per cent of ten and 11-year-olds in the UK were obese last year.