Poor diet and exercise leaves generation facing heart attacks in their TWENTIES Doctors are reporting a surge in cases of type 2 diabetes in the under 18s More thanÂ 83 children below the age of nine diagnosed with condition Academics said there has been a â€˜frighteningâ€™ increase due to poor diets A fifth of 11-year-olds are classified as obese alongside a quarter of adultsÂ Children as young as seven are developing diabetes caused by obesity with more than 83 children below the age of nine diagnosed with the condition Children as young as seven are developing diabetes caused by obesity. Doctors are reporting a surge in cases of type 2 diabetes â€" triggered by poor diet and sedentary lifestyle â€" 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.Â 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 â€˜frighteningâ€™ increase due to obesity, sugar-laden diets and a lack of exercise.Â 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 â€" 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 Â£4.5billion. Professor Tim Barrett, a consultant in paediatric diabetes at Birmingham Childrenâ€™s Hospital, said: â€˜We think [childhood type 2 diabetes] is almost certainly related to their diet and lack of exercise. If you get it when youâ€™re 15 or 12, you get heart attacks in your 20s, and thatâ€™s why weâ€™re all really scared about it.â€™ Around 2.7million Britons have diabetes. The condition occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, the hormone which controls blood sugar, causing it to rise. 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. According to NHS figures, 1,295 children under 18 have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, including 83 below the age of nineÂ Professor Barrett, who is carrying out a national study of childhood diabetes, said: â€˜Weâ€™ve had them as young as eight and seven. It tends to be children who are significantly obese, usually with a very strong family history of diabetes.â€™ Worryingly, doctors say that children are developing an accelerated form of the illness, which is difficult to treat and leads them to suffer complications far more quickly than adults do. The Mail asked all 165 NHS hospital trusts in England for figures on the numbers of children treated for type 2 diabetes in the past year. Many did not differentiate between type 1 and type 2, but those which did included the Whittington Hospital, in North London, which had treated an eight-year-old. Mid Essex has treated two nine-year-olds and St Georgeâ€™s, in South London, two ten-year-olds. Professor Anthony Barnett, a diabetes specialist at the University of Birmingham, said: â€˜The relative increase in children has been absolutely dramatic. Thatâ€™s probably an underestimate. A lot of children who have type 2 diabetes are initially being treated for type 1.â€™