If the rapid increase of childhood diabetes hasn’t caught your attention by now, try this new health-crisis dilemma: Obese children are suffering from liver disease.

This is the disease commonly associated with heavy drinking or hepatitis. Now studies show that overweight children, notably in the U.S., Europe and Australia, are suffering from cirrhosis, liver failure or liver cancer, according to an Associated Press report.

An estimated 2 percent to 5 percent of American children older than age 5, nearly all of them obese or overweight, have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, according to the American Liver Foundation and other experts.

Parents and health providers need to be aware of the risks and take the obesity situation seriously. In children, liver disease is most common in overweight children with belly fat and certain warning signs, such as diabetes or cholesterol or heart problems. Some experts estimate as many as half of children who are obese may suffer from it but note that few are given the simple blood test that can signal its presence.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends doctors do a blood test of liver enzymes every two years on obese children and overweight ones with high blood pressure or cholesterol or family history of heart disease. If you are a parent of an obese child, arming yourself with this information may be a key element to your child’s health care.

As children obtain more access to junk food and sedentary habits, as is happening in countries across the world, health-care problems are expanding like waistbands. But so is the research, and being well-informed and taking preventive steps may help control liver disease in young people.

Diet and exercise are shown to be effective. Entire families sometimes accompany young patients to the doctor’s office to discuss how eating and exercise habits of the whole household affects its members.

The last thing a kid should have to worry about is looking forward to a liver transplant in his or her 30s.