Toddlers are increasingly being treated for diabetes amid soaring obesity rates

Toddlers and young children are being treated for high blood pressure, diabetes and knee joint problems as a devastating consequence of the country’s obesity crisis, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The number of young people being treated for conditions commonly seen in middle-aged adults has increased dramatically over the past decade.

Hospital appointments for diabetes where obesity is a factor have more than doubled since 2014, and there are similar numbers for young people with high blood pressure.

Doctors have also seen a sharp increase in the number of children with weight-related knee damage and gallstones, NHS figures show. In addition, the appointments for sleep apnea – in which the airway is often blocked because someone is overweight – have skyrocketed.

Ministers have pledged to halve childhood obesity by 2030. But more than a fifth of children are now overweight or obese when they enter primary school, rising to nearly four in 10 by the time they enter secondary school.

“These numbers are a damning indictment of this country’s obesity crisis, which is a national disgrace,” said Tam Fry, president of the National Obesity Forum.

NHS data shows there were 192 appointments for children with diabetes in 2021, almost three times the number in 2014. This included 22 children under four. Experts warn that type 2 diabetes is much more aggressive in children than in adults.

Knee problems, such as ligament damage, doubled in less than a decade in children ages 12 to 17, from 31 in 2014 to 60 last year.

And the number of teens with a hospital appointment for gallstones — often fueled by obesity — doubled to 500 last year, compared to 245 in 2014.

Professor Graham MacGregor, chair of both Action On Salt and Action On Sugar, accused the government of ‘abandoning efforts to prevent obesity’ due to lobbying by food giants.

“Many kids are still consuming way too much junk food that is loaded with salt, sugar and calories,” he said.

Last night, Professor Russ Jago, a public health expert at the University of Bristol, said school sports facilities and gyms should remain open in the evenings, at weekends or during school holidays. A study he led found that only four in ten children aged 10 to 11 were getting the recommended amount of one hour of physical activity per day.

“We know that activity plays a role in obesity, but we also know that active children are generally happier, have better social skills, and there is some evidence of an association with academic performance,” he said.

His research showed that children engaged in sports and games as much as before the pandemic. But they also spent more time at home, which would correspond to an increased use of computer tablets and telephones.

A government spokesman said £600m will be spent over the next two years to improve the quality of gymnastics and sport in primary schools, and a further £57m will be spent to open school sports facilities in the evenings, weekends and bank holidays. to hold.