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Until the last decade or so, the form of diabetes diagnosed in the majority of children was type 1, once known as juvenile diabetes. But these days, more and more children and teens are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a disease traditionally seen only in adults.

As evidence of this "emerging epidemic," some clinics report one-third to one-half of all new cases of childhood diabetes are now type 2. Since type 2 diabetes is more common in certain racial and ethnic groups, children who are African American, Hispanic, Latino, or Native American; who are large for their age; and who have a family history of type 2 are at especially high risk for this type.
A child diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is generally born into a family with a history of the disease, predisposing the child to developing it. When that predisposition is combined with environmental factors such as weight gain and inactivity, the child's blood glucose levels increase, eventually leading to diabetes.

Hi adultphonechat,

Well,There are two main types of diabetes, one that primarily affects young people known as Type I or `juvenile diabetes', and the other affecting the older person is called Type ll or `maturity onset diabetes'.

The Type I or younger diabetic, produces very little or no insulin themselves, and so most of these patients have to receive insulin by injection on a twice daily basis. This type of diabetes often termed `insulin dependent diabetes' tends to develop very quickly and can produce rapid weight loss, dehydration, vomiting and even diabetic coma. In Type II diabetes, the onset is usually more gradual, less severe and diabetic coma rarely occurs.

Thanks