150 million Chinese will have the disease by 2040 if habits don't change, WHO says

An increasing number of children in China face an elevated risk of developing diabetes, mainly because of unhealthy diets and a lack of physical exercise, experts warned on Thursday, which was World Health Day.

About 110 million adults in China live with diabetes, according to the World Health Organization.

It expects the number to increase to 150 million by 2040 if action is not taken to improve eating habits and encourage exercise.

"Rates of Type 2 diabetes in China have exploded in the last couple of decades," said Bernhard Schwartlander, the WHO representative in China.

"In 1980, less than 5 percent of Chinese men had diabetes. Now, more than 10 percent do," he said. "This increase has been largely driven by unhealthy lifestyles - diets that are too high in sugar and fat, and people not getting enough physical activity."

Type 2 diabetes is by far the most common type of diabetes worldwide and affects about 90 percent of those who have the disease. It is the result of the body's ineffective use of insulin and is often triggered by excess body weight and physical inactivity.