The research team in Plymouth is looking closely at lifestyle factors

Diabetes UK has given the money to the Early Bird study based at the city's Peninsula Medical School.

One in 20 adults already has diabetes but if the present trend continues, it is believed that one in 10 children will get it in their lifetime.

Now researchers in Plymouth are being given an extra �139,000 to see if there are common factors which can be identified in children which trigger the disease.

Lifestyle factors

Early results from the project, which runs for 12 years, shows one in four children is already overweight by the time they start school.

The research team at the Peninsula Medical School is looking closely at lifestyle factors, such as diet and physical inactivity.

The medical school said the cash was a great boost for the research group.

It said of the researchers: "The group carries out many interesting studies, both academic and commercial, into diabetes and cardiovascular problems."

Diabetes is the most common cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputation in the UK.

Heart attacks and strokes are three times more likely in adults with Type-2 diabetes.