Over 600 young people have type 2 diabetes

More than 600 children and teenagers are being treated for a type of diabetes normally only seen in adults aged over 40, reinforcing the need for urgent action on obesity, councils have warned.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, has found a 14 per cent annual increase in the amount of children with type 2 diabetes. It says the continuing rise is a ‘hugely disturbing trend’ and an important reminder of one of the biggest public health challenges the country faces.

While not every case of type 2 diabetes is as a result of being overweight or obsess, it is the greatest risk factor.

According to figures from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health from 2015/16, 621 children and young people under the age of 25 received care for type 2 diabetes from Paediatric Diabetes Units in England and Wales, of which 78.5 per cent were also clinically obese. 15 of these children were aged between five and nine. This is an increase of 76 from the previous year.

The LGA says this emphasises the urgency of stepping up efforts to tackle child obesity. It is calling on the government to reverse the cuts to councils’ public health budgets of £531 million - a reduction of nearly 10 per cent over a five year period. This has impaired councils’ ability to tackle childhood obesity and prevent conditions like type 2 diabetes from developing at the outset.

Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the LGA’s Community Well-being Board, 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.

“Ahead of the first anniversary of the childhood obesity plan, this highlights the need to take urgent action on this major public health time bomb.

“It is vital that the measures in the childhood obesity plan improve the health of young people, and can help parents make more informed choices about the eating habits and lifestyles of their children.”