Obesity fuelling a 'diabetes epidemic' with 70,000 new cases in a year

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Campaigners renewed warnings of a diabetes epidemic yesterday after figures showed the number of patients with the condition shot up by 70,000 last year.

The surge in cases is being fuelled by obesity, say experts.

Health Service statistics show the number of patients in England diagnosed with diabetes jumped from 1,915,605 in 2005-2006 to 1,986,200 in 2006-2007.

This represents an increase in "diabetes prevalence" from 3.6 per cent to 3.7 per cent of patients.

The figures come from the 2006-2007 Quality And Outcomes Framework, which measures what GPs achieve for their patients.

For the first time obesity has been officially recorded by GPs and last year they saw four million obese patients.

The prevalence of obese patients was 7.4 per cent of the 53million registered with family doctors in England.

However, this underestimates the true level because it includes only newly-registered patients and those who were assessed as being obese when they consulted their GPs for other reasons.

Around one in four adults is classified as obese from national surveys.

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Experts say the surge in new patients with diabetes is being fuelled by obesity

The charity Diabetes UK said growing levels of obesity are closely linked to the rise in Type 2 diabetes. Around 80 per cent of those with Type 2 are overweight at the time of diagnosis.

The number with Type 2 diabetes is expected to double by 2010. Nine out of ten of those with diabetes have Type 2, which occurs when the body gradually loses the ability to process blood sugar.

Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "These figures are truly alarming as diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke and nerve damage that can cause amputation.

"We need to encourage people to follow a healthy diet and active lifestyle to help them reduce their risk of developing diabetes.

"Up to 750,000 people have diabetes in the UK and are not aware of it."