Diabetes is the fastest growing health crisis of our time, according to This Morning’s Dr Chris Steele.
The number of diabetes cases have doubled in the UK over the past 20 years, it was revealed by charity Diabetes UK.
Almost four million people have the high blood sugar condition.
But, Dr Chris urged the public to get checked, as more than one million aren’t even aware they have type 2 diabetes.
“What concerns me is there’s one million without diabetes and they don’t know they have it,” said Dr Chris.
“The interesting thing about this is that people aren’t too concerned about diabetes.
“The think ‘it’s just a bit of sugar in the blood’.
“Working from the top down, you could lose your sight, have heart attacks, gangrene, kidney transplants…”
Diabetes UK called for stricter restrictions on junk food and advertising to slow down the condition’s rise.
“Diabetes is the fastest growing health crisis of our time; and the fact diagnoses have doubled in just 20 years should give all of us serious pause for thought,” said the charity’s Chief Executive Chris Askew.
“Both type 1 and type 2 are serious conditions that can lead to devastating complications such as amputation, blindness, kidney disease, stroke and heart disease if people don’t receive a timely diagnosis and begin receiving the right care.”
About 90 per cent of all diabetes cases are type 2, the NHS said.
Signs of the condition include feeling very tired and passing more urine than normal.
Unexplained weight loss and having an unquenchable thirst are also symptoms of type 2 diabetes.
See your GP if you’re worried about diabetes symptoms.
Early diagnosis is crucial, as it will get progressively worse if left untreated.
