Know your risk of Type 2 diabetes

Seven million people in the UK (of which 2.5 million are Tesco customers) are at high risk of Type 2 diabetes, and that number is rising every year. If nothing changes, by 2025 five million people in the UK will have the condition.

With greater awareness and understanding of the risk factors of Type 2 diabetes, we can encourage people to reduce their risk of developing the condition through changes to their lifestyle. We can also ensure that people are diagnosed earlier, before the development of any of the complications associated with diabetes.

You are more at risk of getting Type 2 diabetes if you:

  • are overweight, especially if you have a large waist
  • are over 40 (or over 25 if you are South Asian)
  • are Black African, Caribbean or South Asian
  • have a parent, brother or sister with diabetes
  • have ever had high blood pressure, a heart attack or stroke
  • have a diagnosed serious mental illness for which you take medication
  • are a woman who has had gestational diabetes, or a baby weighing over ten pounds, or has polycystic ovaries.

If you think you have one or more of the risk factors above, go along to your nearest Tesco pharmacy for a free diabetes risk assessment. You can also assess your risk by taking our Online Risk Score Test.

Know the signs

The symptoms are the same for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, but they usually appear much faster in Type 1 diabetes. The signs of Type 2 diabetes can appear very slowly, and might not seem important, so the condition can often go unnoticed.

Do you know the signs to look out for?

The signs of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are the same:

  • needing to pass urine more than usual, especially at night
  • often feeling thirsty
  • losing weight without trying to
  • often feeling very tired
  • having blurred eyesight
  • often feeling itchy around the genitals, or having regular infections like thrush
  • having a cut that takes a long time to heal

We have launched a campaign to raise awareness of the most common symptoms of Type 1 diabetes. Find out more about the 4 Ts.

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