Shock warning as obesity crisis doubles the number with diabetes prognosis

Analysis by the charity, Diabetes UK, forecasts an estimated 87,000 hospital admissions for the condition each year by 2030 – 10,000 more than now. This means that one in ten people will likely have diabetes by 2030. The NHS already spends £14billion a year on care and treatment for those with diabetes, and experts have warned that the crisis threatens to ‘bankrupt the NHS’. 

Some 4.1million patients in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes, and a further 850,000 are thought to have the disease without knowing. Nine in ten of those with diabetes have the type 2 variant, which is linked to obesity and unhealthy living. Type 1 is an unpreventable autoimmune disease that usually develops in childhood. 

Diabetes occurs when blood-sugar levels rise dangerously. It can lead to complications including heart attacks, kidney failure, stroke, amputation and blindness. Diabetes UK claims one in three adults – more than 17million – could be at increased risk of developing type 2 by 2030. Its data is based on diabetes prevalence projection models from Public Health England and the Association of Public Health Observatories.

Diabetes UK recommends that more people should be enrolled on the NHS diabetes prevention programme, which aims to help them reach a healthy weight, learn to eat better and make regular exercise a part of their daily lives. The charity recognises that every diagnosis of diabetes is life-changing. The relentlessness of the condition and the ever-present fear of serious and life-altering complications is a life-long reality for millions of families

Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, acknowledges that ‘Twenty years ago, nearly 10 per cent of the population was obese, triggering diabetes and a string of other serious health conditions. Obesity was designated a “ticking timebomb” by England’s chief medical officer.’ Latest NHS figures show every week, diabetes leads to 185 amputations, more than 770 strokes, 590 heart attacks and 2,300 cases of heart failure.

Professor Jonathan Valabhji, national clinical director for diabetes and obesity at NHS England, said: ‘Diabetes can have a marked effect on people’s lives, with higher risks of heart attacks, strokes, limb loss, many of the common forms of cancer, and more severe outcomes with Covid-19. As part of its long-term plan, the NHS is already delivering the world’s largest type 2 diabetes prevention programme to support people in reducing their risk of developing the condition, as well as piloting the use of low-calorie diets in those who have recently had a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in order to achieve remission.’

Extracts taken from Eleanor Hayward from https://www.dailymail.co.uk