Figures show there are around 4.4m people in the UK who have been diagnosed as having diabetes. However this is likely to be far lower than the actual figure with hundreds of thousands of people unknowingly living with the condition.
The charity Diabetes UK says it is thought another 1.2m could be living with type 2 diabetes but who have not yet been diagnosed. And the cases are rising - the number of people registered with the condition went up by 167,822 between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
In addition to this a further 5.1m people are prediabetic - where their blood sugar levels are high but not quite at the diabetic stage. This means around one in nine British people are on the threshold of having the condition, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.
There are two types of diabetes - type 1 and type 2 - both as a result of issues with the way the body handles the hormone insulin. While type 1 diabetes is something which you can't prevent with the cause not known, most sufferers - around 90% - have type 2 diabetes which can not only be prevented but sometimes reversed with the right lifestyle. Type 2 diabetes is often linked to being overweight, inactive or having a family history of the condition.
And while serious this too can be managed - or even prevented - usually by changes in diet and often medication. In fact, according to Vitality Health Insurance ’s Habit Index, people who sustain a habit of 10,000 steps, three times a week, for three years can re.