Diabetes rises by 50% in five years fuelled by soaring levels of obesity

The number of diabetes sufferers in Britain has risen by 50 per cent in just five years, fuelled by soaring levels of obesity, campaigners warn.

Some three million adults and children now have the condition, after an increase of more than 117,000 in the past 12 months alone.

The Diabetes UK charity warns that the NHS is now spending £9billion every year treating patients, which is almost a tenth of its budget.
Risk: Scientists believe excess fat upsets the working of insulin - a key hormone which delivers sugar to cells - and this can lead to type 2 diabetes

Risk: Scientists believe excess fat upsets the working of insulin - a key hormone which delivers sugar to cells - and this can lead to type 2 diabetes

Some 90 per cent of sufferers have type 2 diabetes, the form which can be caused by being overweight or obese.

The remainder have type 1, which is believed to be genetic.

Earlier this year a separate report warned rising numbers of children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, whereas in the past it was usually only seen in adults.

Figures suggest up to 1,400 have type 2 diabetes – a few decades ago there were virtually no sufferers.


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Health experts blame the increase on rising levels of obesity, which is driven by junk food diets and a lack of exercise. Nearly a quarter of adults and a fifth of ten-year-olds are classified as being clinically obese, according to the latest NHS figures.

Scientists believe excess fat upsets the working of insulin – a key hormone which delivers sugar to cells – and this can lead to type 2 diabetes.
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Those with the condition are five times more at risk of heart attacks and strokes and can also suffer damage to nerve endings in feet, cells in the eye’s retina and kidney disease.
Growing concern: Figures suggest up to 1,400 have type 2 diabetes - a few decades ago there were virtually no sufferers

Growing concern: Figures suggest up to 1,400 have type 2 diabetes - a few decades ago there were virtually no sufferers

Symptoms include frequently needing the toilet, increased thirst, extreme tiredness, unexplained weight loss and blurred vision.

Barbara Young, Diabetes UK chief executive, said: ‘The rate of increase of diabetes is growing with huge human cost and cost to the NHS.

‘The time for action is now. While rates of other serious conditions, including many cancers, heart disease and stroke, are steady or declining, the epidemic of diabetes continues to grow at even faster rates.

‘We must reverse this trend if more people are not going to suffer unnecessarily and if diabetes is not going to bankrupt the NHS.

‘Around 10 per cent of NHS spending goes on diabetes and its complications; this equates to £9billion per year, or £1million an hour.’

Charities suspect a further one million people have diabetes, mainly type 2, but have not yet been diagnosed. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin. It is different to type 1 where the body does not produce any at all.

'The time for action is now'


This lack of insulin means the body cannot break down sugar, or glucose, and use it for energy. The glucose builds up in the blood and is eventually passed out in urine. This means the body does not get crucial energy for growth and development.

Earlier this year Harvard researchers found consuming 50g of processed red meat per day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 50 per cent. This is equivalent to two rashers of bacon, one sausage or a few slices of salami.

The study found processed red meat increased the risk more than unprocessed meat such as steaks or joints.

England is in the grip of an epidemic of pensioner obesity, official figures suggest.

The number of elderly people admitted to hospital because they are dangerously fat has soared almost ten-fold in five years.

Figures show 1,102 people aged between 60 and 74 ended up in a hospital bed in 2009/10 as a direct result of their weight. This is up from 118 in 2004/05 – a rise of 834 per cent.

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And the figures, published by the NHS Information Centre, are likely to be the tip of the iceberg because they only include those admitted with a primary diagnosis of obesity.

Thousands more grossly overweight people will have entered hospital with heart disease, strokes, diabetes and some cancers brought on by their size.