It may be another way that kids are growing up early, but not one anyone thinks of as cute or desirable: the fact that children are now developing the kind of diabetes that normally waits until middle age to develop.

Four reports presented at the American Diabetes Association scientific sessions in San Diego reveal that an increasing number of children and adolescents, almost all of whom are extremely overweight, are developing type 2 diabetes - the kind in which the body fails to use insulin properly and develop the proper amount of insulin themselves. The researchers say the finding is especially devastating because of the effect diabetes can have on the body - it's the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

"Type 2 diabetes was practically unheard of in young people until the last few years, and its recent appearance is alarming," says Dr. Robin Goland, co-director of Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. "Because of the long-term damage that high blood sugar levels can do to blood vessels throughout the body, we might see the devastating complications of diabetes very early, such as heart attacks, strokes, blindness and amputations in 30-year-olds, if they are not properly diagnosed and treated early."

Type 2 diabetes is different in development - although not in the devastation it causes - from type 1, or juvenile, diabetes. That is an autoimmune problem that children are born with. While there is believed to be a hereditary factor to type 2 diabetes - you're more likely to develop it if someone in your family already has it - personal habits are far more of a contributing factor.

In all four studies presented to the association, the children weighed well above the top figure for ideal body weight. A study by the University of Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital shows that obesity is a critical element in developing type 2 diabetes, with television watching associated with an increase in diabetes among children ages 10 to 19.

"Elevated obesity levels in children is a harbinger of future diabetes risk for them because obesity is associated with insulin resistance, the first step in the development of type 2 diabetes," says Dr. Bernard Zinman, a senior scientist at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute.

Another risk factor in type 2 diabetes development is something called acanthosis nigricans, a dark skin discoloration at the back of the neck that's association with insulin resistance.

The children in the studies who developed type 2 diabetes also tended to be skewed toward ethnic minorities - particularly Hispanics, African-Americans and Native Americans. "Some differences between ethnic groups may indicate variation in the underlying biology or sociology affecting diabetes in these groups, and need to be explored," said Dr. Kenneth Jones, chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California at San Diego.

The researchers say they want more research into the problem. They also believe that, especially among populations more at risk, there should be a greater emphasis on screening kids than on waiting for cases to be referred.

"Because screening picks up ten times more children than the referred case procedure..., we must assume that type 2 diabetes is being very much under-diagnosed in youngsters" said Dr. Heather Dean, pediatrics professor at the University of Manitoba.