Copenhagen (dpa) - The Danish health authorities, alarmed by the first reports of diabetes in obese children, are calling for extra hours of exercise in primary schools, public service television said on Tuesday.

Obesity among Danish school kids has developed to the point where hospitals are beginning to diagnose the first cases of so-called senile diabetes in children as young as 10 years old, the Copenhagen newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported.

"Now we see the disease (diabetes) among children and youths," said Dr Karsten Kaas Ibsen, chief of medical staff at the Glostrup county hospital children's ward in Copenhagen. "I fear that the few cases up to now are only the start of a wave of this new illness among children," he said.

The hospital has been able to treat the obese childrens' diabetes, which does not require insulin, by means of dietary and exercise programmes.

A new report by the state institute of public health showed that not only are there more and more obese children every year, but that they are getting fatter all the time.

Around 10 per cent of 14 to 16-year-old girls are overweight or obese, as are some 7 per cent of boys, according to a survey of 3,000 school children.

The most obese kids today are up to 10 per cent fatter than they were in 1971-72, a comparative study showed.

Danish school children currently receive two or three hours of exercise per week, but latest public health reports have prompted calls for at least one hour per day.

(From Sohu)