• Doctors are reporting a surge in cases of type 2 diabetes in the under 18s
• More than 83 children below the age of nine diagnosed with condition
• Academics said there has been a ‘frightening’ increase due to poor diets
• A fifth of 11-year-olds are classified as obese alongside a quarter of adults 

Children as young as seven are developing diabetes caused by obesity.

Doctors are reporting a surge in cases of type 2 diabetes – triggered by poor diet and sedentary lifestyle – in the under 18s, whereas 15 years ago it was unheard of.

Alarmingly, the illness appears to be far more aggressive in children than in adults, causing serious complications much earlier.

By the time they have reached their early teens, a number have suffered damage to their eyes and kidneys and are expected to have heart attacks in their 20s.

According to NHS figures, 1,295 children under 18 have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, including 83 below the age of nine.

The illness most commonly occurs in the over 40s, and prior to the year 2000 no case had ever been recorded in the under-18s.

But academics and doctors say there has been a ‘frightening’ increase due to obesity, sugar-laden diets and a lack of exercise.

And they say these figures are an underestimate as many children may have been wrongly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which is more common in the young and linked to genetic factors.

As many as a fifth of 11-year-olds are classified as obese alongside a quarter of adults – rates which have doubled in 25 years.

Next week the NHS watchdog NICE will publish guidelines which are expected to recommend free weight-loss surgery for obese adults with type 2 diabetes. Up to 900,000 patients meet the criteria, and if all wanted the operations it would cost the health service £4.5billion.

Professor Tim Barrett, a consultant in paediatric diabetes at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, said: ‘We think [childhood type 2 diabetes] is almost certainly related to their diet and lack of exercise. If you get it when you’re 15 or 12, you get heart attacks in your 20s, and that’s why we’re all really scared about it.’

There is no cure for type 2 diabetes, and patients have to try to control their blood sugar by taking daily pills or insulin injections.

But over time, the blood sugar levels damage the nerves in the feet, which may require amputation, as well as harming the kidneys and the retina, leading to sight loss. It also causes cholesterol levels to rise, which can trigger heart attacks and strokes.