Image caption Paul Hollywood said one contestant's bake looked like "diabetes on a plate"

Paul Hollywood has apologised for a "thoughtless" joke about diabetes made on The Great British Bake Off.

Some fans of the Channel 4 show took to social media to voice their upset when the judge made the comment about one contestant's bake.

When commenting on the sticky creation, Hollywood said it looked like "diabetes on a plate".

He later went to Instagram to apologise, saying he had "meant no harm".

Tuesday night's episode was patisserie week and also the show's semi-final.

Misunderstanding about the causes of diabetes comes from the fact that there are two very different types.

Fans complained about the remark because they believed it showed Hollywood to be "uneducated" about the condition, claiming it reinforced false beliefs that it comes from eating too much sugar.

Diabetes

There are two main types of diabetes:

Type 1 - where the pancreas does not produce any insulin

Type 2 - where the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body's cells do not react to insulin

Type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, but usually appears before the age of 40, particularly in childhood.

About 10% of all diabetes is type 1, but it is the most common type of childhood diabetes, so it is sometimes called juvenile diabetes or early onset diabetes

Type 2 diabetes tends to develop later in life and is linked to lifestyle and being overweight.

Source: NHS Choices

Viewers of the show were keen to set Hollywood straight, with various tweets and comments objecting to his comment.

An NHS consultant also said he'd be willing to talk Hollywood through the facts about diabetes, type 1 and 2.

There are now three contestants left to battle for this year's Bake Off crown, with the final taking place next week.

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