The significance of excess weight (and little exercise) in diabetes may not be appreciated by the public. Indeed, around a quarter of people who have T2D are unaware they have the condition – nearly a million people in the UK. Lack of awareness of prediabetes is likely to be considerably higher: around nine out of ten people in the US with prediabetes are unaware they have it.2,6

Diabetes UK estimates 12.3 million people here are at an increased risk of T2D. The NHS RightCare pathway indicates that even though 5 million people have raised blood glucose levels, at present most receive no intervention. If trends persist, NHS England has forecast that one in three people will be obese by 2034 and one in 10 will develop T2D.7,8,9

A big challenge is the lack of awareness of the complications of diabetes. A recent survey of 1,000 people by Diabetes UK found only a quarter of respondents named amputation and sight loss as consequences of diabetes without prompting. Furthermore, just “2% of people spontaneously said a stroke was a complication of diabetes, 4% said kidney damage, and 6% said heart disease”.7