There is alarm at the growing number of children suffering a form of diabetes caused by obesity and lack of exercise.
Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland says one in 10 diabetic children now have the highly preventable Type 2 diabetes which in the past was found mainly in obese adults.
Diabetes is a modern day disease that doctors say is caused by eating too much fast food, watching too much television and not getting enough exercise.
Otago University's Professor of Pediatrics Barry Taylor has just finished a study on diabetes in children and says most are not being treated.
Taylor says the numbers will continue to rise because New Zealand has no strategies to deal with the epidemic.
The health ministry's chief clinical advisory Sandy Dawson says the problem must be tackled at every level.
He says some schools have banned drinks containing sugar and doctors have started screening overweight and inactive children.
But Dawson says the most effective prevention is to raise children in a home where they eat and exercise properly.
