SHOCKING RISE IN CHILD DIABETES
REVEALED: 7,000 young people suffering Type 2 in ‘gravest health crisis of our time’
BRITAIN’S obsession with sugar and junk food has led to record numbers of children being struck down with Type 2 diabetes.
Latest figures reveal the shocking impact poor diet is having on health, with almost 7,000 sufferers now under the age of 25.
The total is 10 times the number officially recorded as being referred to specialist paediatric units, meaning the problem is significantly worse than first feared.
Yet a decade ago no child had the life-threatening condition. Experts last night warned of a looming catastrophe with
tens of thousands of young people expected to be diagnosed as diabetic in years to come.
More than a third of children are leaving primary school overweight or obese.
NHS consultant cardiologist and clean living campaigner Dr Aseem Malhotra said: “These truly shocking figures reflect the gravest health crisis of our time, underpinned by a collective failure to give children the best start for a healthy life.
“This is due to a combination of factors including government failing to protect the public from the deliberate targeting of children by the junk food industry.
“It’s also a failure of Public Health England to acknowledge that Type 2 is a condition of carbohydrate intolerance that can be reversed from eating a healthy diet.
“I’m regularly giving dietary advice to my own patients suffering from weight problems and Type 2 to cut out ultra-processed foods. Essentially that’s anything that comes out of a packet and has five or more ingredients should be eaten as an occasional treat, perhaps once a week, not daily.”
Treating
The total of 6,836 sufferers under 25 was revealed by Diabetes UK and is based on the numbers treated in GP practices for the condition in England and Wales in 2016/17.
Before this the most reliable data was from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health earlier this year which said paediatric diabetes units were treating only 715 people under the age of 25 for Type 2.
Vascular surgeon Martin Claridge, one of the UK’s leading authorities on the condition, said: “This is the tip of the iceberg. There are going to be many more young people out in the community who have not yet been diagnosed.
“As a society we appear to be sleep walking into this crisis.”
Already more than one child in five is obese or overweight in their first year of primary school, illustrating the scale of the time bomb facing the NHS.
There is already a sugar tax on some soft drinks but campaigners say it should be extended to food, and drinks not subject to the levy, like milkshakes, some of which contain as much as 16 teaspoons of sugar.
Supermarkets regularly advertise promotions aimed at children with family packs of branded chocolate and biscuits available for just £1. Even sports organisations stand accused of making the crisis worse. McDonald’s has been a key commercial partner of the Football Association for 15 years. And earlier this year the FA renewed its long-standing partnership with confectionary giant Mars, which makes Mars bars, Milky Way, M&M’s, Skittles, Snickers, and Twix. The company 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 on TV and internet demand services outlawed, and companies associated with sugary products to be banned from sponsoring sporting events.
Birmingham has been shamed as Britain’s diabetes capital, where one in 10 now has the disease.
Type 1 diabetes, which is suffered by Theresa May, is not caused by diet. But Type 2 often is. A lifelong condition, it leads to serious complications such as blindness, amputations, heart
disease and kidney failure. It usually develops over the age of 40 in white Europeans or after 25 in people who are AfricanCaribbean, black African, or South Asian.
The condition is much more aggressive in children and young people than in adults, with a higher overall risk of complications that tend to appear much earlier. The risk of developing Type 2 is significantly increased by being overweight or obese. Bridget Turner, Diabetes UK’s director of policy and campaigns, said: “Type 2 can be devastating for children and young people. To help shape a future where fewer children develop the condition, we need continued commitment across society to create an environment that reduces obesity. We need to encourage healthy living by providing clear and easy to understand nutritional information about the products we are all buying, and protect children from adverts for foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar.”
Overall, more than four million people in the UK have diabetes and a further 12 million living chronically unhealthy lifestyles are at increased risk of Type 2.
The disease has become a huge drain on the NHS, costing £14billion a year to treat – or £1million every hour. The number of related prescriptions issued has rocketed by 80 per cent in a decade. The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are committed to halving child obesity by 2030 and will be launching consultations to restrict promotions in shops for sugary and fatty foods, as well as a 9pm watershed ban on advertising. “The upcoming NHS longterm plan will have prevention at its core.”