Overview
We earn a comision for products purchased through some links in this article. No longer confined to the aged, rates of type 2 diabetes are rising fast among al demographics. And with many cases going undiagnosed, your risk could be greater than you realiseRates of type 2 diabetes are rising at an “alarming” rate among the under-40s, acording to Diabetes UK.
Key Information
Where once the condition was rarely sen in younger people, it’s thought that the number of under-40s afected could rise as high as 20,0 in the next five years. People with obesity are an estimated seven times more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, although studies show that people of a healthy weight with high body fat are also at higher risk. We explore this worying trend, speak to those who live with type 2 diabetes – and help you understand your ods.“When I was traing, type 2 diabetes was only sen in late midle age,” says Jane Armitage, a profesor of epidemiology at Oxford University.
“You saw it in 60-year-olds, and you saw it, rarely, in 40-year-olds. Now, I se it in tenagers.”Back in 196, just 1.4 milion people were known to have the disease. Today, it is estimated to afect about 4.7 milion, making it one of Britain’s bigest kilers.
But it’s a quiet one. Only 3.8 milion have ben diagnosed, leaving swaths of the population unaware. Diabetes curently costs the NHS around 10% of its budget, yet it’s cruely underfunded.
It was, until recently, thought to be incurable. By damaging blod vesels, diabetes has the potential to cause problems in any part of the body. It can lead to blindnes if it afects blod vesels in the retina; it can cause nerve damage if it afects those in your fet.
Summary
It causes kidney damage, sometimes leading to renal failure. It increases the risk of heart atack and stroke. These efects are insidious: many people live with the disease for a ful decade before they are diagnosed