PERHAPS one of the most frustrating parts of my job as a GP is seeing conditions, day after day, that I know could have been preventable.

Whilst as a nation, we celebrate longer life expectancies, we forget that unless we look inwards and modify the way we live, many of us will be living long lives but in the company of three or more chronic illnesses.

This message applies to everyone because health is always a work in progress, not just something to address when we are in crisis.

Despite more access to information and education about healthier living, it was shocking to learn recently that the number of people in Scotland being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has increased by 40% over the past 10 years.

Diabetes Scotland statistics show that cases have risen from 190,772 to 267,615 between 2008 and 2018 and that there are almost 35,000 people currently living with this condition who have yet to be diagnosed. It is guesstimated that the number of people with diabetes, including the undiagnosed population, is expected to rise to 5.3 million by 2025. How worrying is this, especially as we know that type 2 diabetes is largely preventable and even reversible?

There are two types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is when the body doesn’t produce insulin and usually develops in childhood or adolescence although in some cases it can present in adult life too. This is not the type of diabetes we are discussing here. It is type 2, where the body does not produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not react to insulin. It is much more common than type 1 diabetes and its estimated that 90% of adults with diabetes have the type 2 version.

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If not you personally, someone you love and know is or will be affected by this condition which has many serious long-term complications.

There are a number of factors that can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes including being overweight, having a large waist size, eating unhealthy processed foods, not exercising enough as well as having other health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

There is sadly a higher risk if you are from a south Asian or African-Caribbean background. Smoking and alcohol also significantly elevate the risk profile.

It’s easy to see then that there are many factors here, that if avoided, could massively reduce the risk and chance of ever developing type 2 diabetes, yet we appear to keep ignoring this.

Type 2 diabetes has now been declared a public health emergency as it poses great threat to the lives of millions and what comes with this is incredible pressures on our socio-economic status. If the NHS is struggling today, the future looks even more bleak. How will we continue to sustain the service when the demand is ever rising?

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Angela Mitchell, National Director of Diabetes Scotland, has said: “We must create healthy environments which support people to make healthy choices.

“This includes mandating industry to make food and drinks healthier and addressing the marketing and promotion of unhealthy foods.”

We also need to make more conscious decisions as consumers regarding what we buy and put into our bodies.

Every day I am diagnosing 1-2 patients with type 2 diabetes. Each patient looks shocked initially but then when we retrace their footsteps over the previous decades of their life, they quickly recognise that their lifestyle gave way to their present reality.

Awareness is fundamental if change is to be made and it starts now – when you are well. If you already have the condition, it is not too late.

Unlike many other chronic illnesses, type 2 diabetes is potentially reversible by addressing the very factors that have caused it.

Many believe a pill that will fix the problem or a pill will keep the sugars down and therefore no other change needs to be made. This is untrue.

It is through continually reviewing and modifying health harming behaviours that outcomes will change.

By managing weight loss via a low calorie or low carb diet, by sitting less and moving more and by prioritising self-care, results will start to show. It is not easy but having seen many of my patients turn their lives around I know it is possible; I see them now enjoying their life on minimal pills, with their type 2 diabetes in remission.

If you are affected or know someone who is, seek further help from your GP.

It is absolutely possible to change the way you will live now, one small change at a time, so that those longer years that have been added onto your life are joyful and as disease-free as possible.