What action are we calling for to reduce and prevent type 2 diabetes?
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Action from Government, the food and drink industry and others to make our societies healthier – promoting access to healthy food and making it easier to be more active
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Making sure that people at high risk of type 2 diabetes are identified of and that there are programmes in place to reduce that risk
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Help people to know their own risk of developing type 2 diabetes and how to reduce this risk
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Nutrition labelling
Download our position statement on early identification of people with type 2 diabetes (PDF, 1.3MB)
Diabetes is one of the fastest growing and most potentially devastating conditions. The number of people diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled over the last 10 years. That means around 700 are newly diagnosed every day. This crisis shows no signs of slowing.
Whilst type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, a major risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes is being overweight or obese. We know that if we were able to reduce obesity levels we could reduce the numbers of people with type 2 diabetes in the future. With almost two in every three people in the UK overweight or obese, there are now 12.3 million people at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Reducing the number of people in the UK who are overweight or obese would reduce the number of people developing type 2 diabetes in the future.
There is evidence that people who are at high risk of type 2 diabetes can reduce that risk and avoid onset of the condition, through targeted interventions such as the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme in England. It is important these people are identified and referred to such programmes.
