According to Diabetes UK, over 4.3 million people are currently living with diabetes in the UK Footnote [1]. Diabetes is a serious condition that causes your blood sugar levels to climb too high.
What causes diabetes?
The amount of sugar in your blood is controlled by a hormone called insulin, which is created by the pancreas.
After you’ve eaten, the food is digested and enters your bloodstream. Insulin then moves the glucose, or sugar, out of the blood and into your cells. Here it’s broken down to create energy to fuel your body.
With diabetes, this process doesn't work as it should. Either your body doesn't produce enough insulin, or it can't use the insulin it makes effectively, so glucose can't be properly converted into energy. Footnote [2]
The different types of diabetes
This tables describes the two main types of diabetes, which are type 1 and type 2, and explains what causes them.
| Type 1 diabetes | Type 2 diabetes |
|---|---|
| With type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system attacks cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Without insulin, glucose can't enter the cells and blood glucose levels increase. Type 1 diabetes often starts in childhood or young adulthood, but it can develop in adulthood too. Footnote [5] Treatment includes insulin therapy via injections or continuous insulin infusion pumps. | With type 2 diabetes, the body doesn't use insulin properly (insulin resistance), or it doesn't produce enough. Type 2 diabetes is more common in adults but it can occur in children too. |
| Fewer than 1 in 10 people in the UK who have diabetes have type 1 diabetes. Footnote [5] | Type 2 diabetes is far more common that type 1. In the UK, around 90% of adults with diabetes have type 2. Treatment options typically include lifestyle changes like eating more healthily, oral medications to lower blood glucose levels, and in some cases, insulin therapy. |
There's a third type called gestational diabetes that only affects pregnant women.
How to spot diabetes
With type 1 diabetes, symptoms usually come on suddenly and rapidly, often over a few days or weeks. This is because the body quickly stops producing insulin due to an autoimmune reaction.
Type 2 diabetes can come on slowly, with symptoms developing over months or even years. Many people don't notice them at first, which is why it can go undiagnosed for a long time. Footnote [3]
Visit your GP if you experience the main symptoms of diabetes, which include:
- feeling very thirsty
- weeing more often than usual, particularly at night
- feeling very tired
- losing weight or muscle
- cuts or wounds that heal slowly
- blurred vision
The risks of getting type 2 diabetes
Obesity is one of the risk factors for getting type 2 diabetes, Footnote [1] so taking steps to lose weight could really boost your chances of preventing the disease from developing.
As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure, which is why we’re not just here for you when you’re ill. We want to keep you healthy too by finding ways to help prevent the onset of chronic disease, like type 2 diabetes.
It’s thought that 3.2 million people in the UK are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Footnote [4] Several things can increase your risk, including:
- being overweight
- your age
- high blood pressure
- if you have a parent, brother, sister or child with diabetes
- your ethnicity
Helping you prevent and manage type 2 diabetes
There are no lifestyle changes you can make to cut your risk of type 1 diabetes, but research has shown that, for some people, lifestyle changes, including diet, exercise and weight loss, can slash the risk of type 2 diabetes by about 50% Footnote [4].
Then it comes to managing the condition, people with type 1 diabetes must take regular insulin injections for the rest of their life.
Some people with type 2 also need to take medicine to keep their blood sugar at the right levels. However, it’s also possible to manage type 2 through lifestyle changes such healthier eating, moving more and losing weight.
