Are you in the diabetes danger zone?

IN the UK, 3.7 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes, around 90% of those with Type 2.

Approximately one million people are living with diabetes but haven’t been diagnosed, and a huge 12.3 million are at an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

“It’s increasing significantly over time so it’s definitely something we have to pay a lot more attention to,” says Chanelle Corena, Prevention Lead at Diabetes UK (diabetes.org.uk).

So could you be at risk?

Understand the basics

Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition that causes the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood to become too high and can happen gradually.

“Unfortunately, in a few cases it can progress over a 10-year period, which means people might not recognise it straight away,” says Chanelle.

“It’s really important people start to identify some of the symptoms, such as a sustained, increased thirst, needing to wee a lot and tiredness, sooner rather than later.”

If left untreated, diabetes (both Type 1 and Type 2) can contribute to early death and lower-limb amputation, but as many as three out of five cases of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed.

The lifestyle changes you can easily make