THE number of people diagnosed with diabetes in Devon has increased by more than 1,600 to 31,671 in the past year, warns leading health charity Diabetes UK.

The data, collected from GP practices, also show the figure of people registered as obese in the county to have risen to 60,020, an increase of nearly 2,000.

In the UK, around 90 per cent of people with diabetes (2.5 million) have Type 2 diabetes, which is strongly linked to being overweight or obese, leading a sedentary lifestyle and eating an unhealthy diet.

Graham Cooper, Regional Manager for Diabetes UK South West, said: “Once again we see a shocking rise in diabetes and obesity rates in Devon as across the rest of the South-West.

“Many, but not all, people develop Type 2 diabetes because they are overweight or obese so in we must keep up the mantra of ‘five fruit and veg a day’, encourage daily physical activity, and warn of the potentially devastating consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle.

Diabetes UK is encouraging people to go online and take its new Diabetes Risk Score test (www.diabetes.org.uk/riskscore) to find out about their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

People at increased risk of Type 2 diabetes can often decrease or even reverse their risk by losing weight, increasing their physical activity levels and improving their diet.

The main risk factors for developing Type 2 diabetes are being overweight or having a large waist, being aged over 40 (or over 25 in black and south Asian people) and having a close relative with diabetes.

At risk waist measurements are 37 inches or more for men, except those of south Asian origin who are at risk at 35 inches or more, and 31.5 inches or more for all women.

The symptoms of diabetes are going to the toilet (urinating) all the time especially at night, increased thirst, extreme tiredness, unexplained weight loss, genital itching or regular episodes of thrush, slow healing of cuts and wounds, and blurred vision.

In Type 2 diabetes the signs and symptoms may not be obvious and the condition can go undetected for up to ten years meaning around half of people already show signs of complications by the time they are diagnosed. Symptoms are quickly relieved once diabetes is being treated and under control.

Around 10 per cent of NHS spending goes on diabetes and its complications, this equates to £9 billion per year or £1 million an hour.