Kids with an adult disease

Sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets have created what some doctors are calling an epidemic: the emergence of type 2 diabetes in children as young as eight. Type 2 diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes, is a disease formerly only seen in the middle-aged.

The cause? Obesity, experts say. They warn that this is the first generation of children who may die younger than their parents because of the type 2 epidemic. Pediatricians urge kids to stop indulging in sugar-loaded, high-fat diets and reduce time spent watching TV or playing video games. Parents also need to set an example by limiting their own time spent snacking on junk food in front of the TV.