And while diabetes – a lifelong condition – can be successfully managed once it’s diagnosed, delaying that diagnosis puts people at risk of serious complications, including amputation and blindness.
This is a key concern for Type 2 diabetes, the type associated with weight which accounts for around 90% of all cases.
Type 2 occurs when the body can no longer make enough insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas which enables us to use sugar/glucose), or the insulin being produced isn’t doing its job properly.
Type 1, on the other hand, has absolutely nothing to do with weight or lifestyle and tends to develop during childhood when a fault in the body causes insulin-producing cells to be destroyed.