"It's a very sad reflection of what we're doing in New Zealand, of the types of food we're not eating," she said.
"The whole thing is just a massive timebomb waiting to go off."
Nationally, there were more than 200 children under the age of 18 who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Bay of Plenty District Health Board diabetes specialty nurse Rose Fifield said 10 children had been referred to the health board's diabetes service in Tauranga in the last five years, the youngest aged 12.
"Ideally all children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be referred to the service as the potential long-term complications can be serious," she said.
More than 12,000 Bay of Plenty residents are living with diabetes with poor lifestyle and food choices putting hundreds more at risk.
The Ministry of Health's Virtual Diabetes Register 2014 showed 12,151 Bay of Plenty residents were living with diabetes, of which 85 to 90 per cent had type 2. Of these 2998 were Maori, 241 Pacific Islanders, 405 Indian and 8507 European or other.
Diabetes Help Tauranga will mark World Diabetes Day today to raise awareness of the prevention and control of the disease among those at risk.
Mrs Cunliffe said Maori, Pacific Islanders and Indians were genetically predisposed to developing type 2 diabetes with Maori three times more likely to develop the disease than non-Maori.
Early identification of type 2 helped people manage the disease, including complications such as foot ulceration, kidney damage and eye disease.
"By detecting the early signs of damage to feet, eyes (and) kidneys active treatment can be undertaken to reduce the risk of amputation, renal failure, blindness, heart attack and stroke. There are encouraging signs that the rates of these complications in people with diabetes has been falling over recent years," Mrs Cunliffe said.
Projects such as the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation Wellness Diabetes Course, available free of charge to those newly diagnosed or on insulin, were making a difference, she said.
"As is the care that many GPs and practice nurses are able to offer to those with blood glucose levels outside expected ranges.
"Over 70 per cent of type 2 diabetes cases can be prevented or delayed by adopting healthier lifestyle choices."
Dr Tony Farrell, a GP at Mount Medical, said he was seeing a steady increase in diabetes cases each year.
"We expect to pick up cases of diabetes almost every day," he said.
He was also seeing a lot more patients with pre-diabetes who were on their way to developing the disease. "We treat these people with diet and exercise," he said.
He had not seen cases of children with type 2 but was aware it was a growing trend nationally.
Children eating energy-dense, nutritionally-deficient foods without doing exercise was a large contributor, he said.