SHOCKING RISE IN CHILD DIABETES
● Doctors’ warning as cases rocket by 40% ● Junk food diet blamed for crisis
BRITAIN’S junk food obsession is killing our children, doctors warn today.
The number being treated for Type 2 diabetes, normally only seen in adults and linked to obesity, has rocketed 40 per cent in four years.
Some have been struck down as young as nine when the killer condition used to only affect those in their mid-40s.
A decade ago no child in Britain had the disease but more than 700 are now receiving specialist treatment because of chronically unhealthy lifestyles.
The true figure is certain to be significantly higher because thousands remain undiagnosed as Britain sleepwalks into one of the gravest public health crises in generations.
Consultant cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra said: “Britain’s junk food epidemic is killing our children. This should be a wake-up call for major Government intervention. Enough is
enough. There needs to be a huge crackdown on the marketing of junk food across all platforms and a complete dissociation between celebrities and sports stars and the endorsement of crisps, chocolate and breakfast cereals, which has only exacerbated the crisis.”
Latest figures from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health show 715 people under the age of 25 received care for Type 2 diabetes in units in England and Wales, of which 78.6 per cent were also obese. The figures for 2016/17 are an increase of 41 per cent on the 507 cases from 2013/14.
But because they only relate to treatment in paediatric units, and not by family doctors, the real number will be much higher.
More than one child in five is obese or overweight in their first year of primary school, rising to one in three by the time they leave, illustrating the scale of the time bomb facing the NHS.
Kathryn Kirchner, clinical adviser at Diabetes UK, said: “It is extremely worrying. We are seeing more young people develop Type 2 year on year.
“Although there are a number of risk factors which are out of our control, one of the most important is being overweight or obese, which we are able to influence.
“These figures are a stark reminder that we have a collective responsibility to push for the actions outlined in the Government’s childhood obesity plan, including clearer and more consistent food labelling.”
Outlawed
There is already a sugar tax on some soft drinks but health campaigners say it should be extended to food, and those drinks not subject to the levy, such as milkshakes which can contain as much as 16 teaspoons of sugar.
A host of supermarkets regularly advertise promotions aimed at children with a family pack of chocolate shakes available for just £1.
Despite there being 15g of fat and 4g of sugar in a Big Mac burger, McDonald’s has been a key commercial partner of the Football Association for 15 years.
Earlier this year the FA renewed its long-standing partnership with confectionary giant Mars, which is now the official supporter of the England men’s, women’s and disability teams.
Campaigners want all labelling of added sugars to be marked in teaspoons rather than grams, all sugary drinks advertising – including fruit juice – on TV and internet demand services outlawed, and companies associated with sugary products to be banned from sponsoring sporting events. Birmingham is Britain’s diabetes capital, where one in 10 have the disease.
Dr Jyoti Baharani, a kidney specialist at the city’s Heartlands Hospital, said: “Diabetes ravages the system. It affects the heart, blood vessels, kidneys and is unremitting, unrelenting, it just carries on.
“You always think patients have a limited life because there’s only so much you’ll be able to do for them.” The Local Government Association revealed 22,000 children are classed as severely obese when they leave primary school.
Last night it said ministers should reverse the £600million cut to councils’ public health funding, which is used to fight obesity.
LGA spokeswoman Councillor Izzi Seccombe said: “These figures are a sad indictment of how we have collectively failed as a society to tackle childhood obesity, one of the biggest health challenges we face. Type 2 typiSIX
cally develops in adults over the age of 40, so it is extremely worrying that we are seeing more young people develop the condition.
Monstrous
“The Government’s childhood obesity plan sets out bold ambitions to halve the number of obese children by 2030. But we need urgent action now.
“These figures will only multiply if we delay.” Diabetes costs the NHS more than £10billion a year. There are three times the number of diabetes cases as all cancer cases.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: “Theresa May’s recently published strategy is nowhere near as bold and ambitious as Councillor Seccombe would have you believe. It’s full of ambitions but contains little of the action that she demands.
“It’s monstrous to consider but some of these children could be dead by the end of the decade.” The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We know the damage obesity causes and are determined to halve childhood obesity by 2030. We have invested billions in public health services and have already removed the equivalent of 45 million kilograms of sugar from soft drinks every year. Our new childhood obesity plan will now get children exercising more in schools and reduce their exposure to sugary and fatty foods.”