An obese toddler who weighs the same as an average 11-year-old has been diagnosed with lifestyle-related diabetes.
The three-year-old girl is one of the youngest people ever to have the type-2 form of the condition, according to her doctor.
Dr Michael Yafi, from Houston in Texas, said that when he made the diagnosis the anonymous girl tipped the scales at 35kg (5st 7lb).
He told the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Stockholm that the family had "poor nutritional habits, with uncontrolled counting of calories and fat".
Both parents were obese, but there was no family history of diabetes.
The girl was given the drug metformin to bring her blood sugar under control.
Her parents were also told to control her food portion sizes, count calories and increase the amount of exercise she did.
Six months later the girl had lost 9kg (1st 7lb) and her blood sugar levels were within the healthy range.
Dr Yafi said the growing obesity epidemic meant doctors should be alert to lifestyle-related diabetes even in young children.
"Reversal of type-2 diabetes in children is possible by early screening of obese children, early diagnosis, appropriate therapy and lifestyle modification," he said.
Tam Fry of the UK's Child Growth Foundation told Sky News: "Fifteen years ago it was rare even for an adolescent to have type 2 diabetes.
"It was thought to be a mid-life disease.
"In those 15 years it has gone from being something that nobody got in childhood to being quite common at the age of 10.
"We have taken the eye off the ball in preventing obesity and none of this should happen."
Douglas Twenefour, clinical advisor at Diabetes UK, said that "probably less than 100" young children have been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in the UK.
"This highlights how important it is that children get a healthy start to life, which includes a healthy diet and regular exercise," he said.
Later this year the Government will publish a new plan to tackle the one in five children who are now obese.
The strategy will include measures to stop children putting on weight over the summer holidays, when they're not being given portion-controlled meals at school.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "The obesity epidemic and particularly childhood obesity has now taken over as the biggest health challenge of our time and it's a challenge we are determined to rise to."
