Obesity puts children at diabetes risk

OBESE children are at four times the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, a study warns.

It shows obese youngsters face quadruple the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes by the age of 25 compared to children with a body mass index in the normal range.

Researchers from King’s College London looked at health records from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, to pull data from 375 general practices.

They found the rate of children developing Type 2 diabetes rose from an average of six new cases per 100,000 children each year between 1994 and 1998, to 33 new cases per 100,000 children each year, between 2009 and 2013.