Diabetes professionals on hand for awareness week

To help mark National Diabetes Week researchers will next week be manning a public information stand at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

National Diabetes Week runs from June 14 to June 20 and there will be a Diabetes awareness stand in the hospital's West Atrium from Monday through to Friday. The stand will be manned over lunchtimes.

Diabetes research staff will be on hand to inform members of the public where they can get more information on diabetes and also highlight the research into diabetes currently going on in Norfolk.

Diabetes is one of the biggest public health challenges facing the country and in England it is estimated 2 million people have the condition. About 80% of those with diabetes in England have Type 2 Diabetes. In Norfolk there are about 30,000 people with Diabetes and about 2,500 are newly diagnosed each year.

Type 2 Diabetes is most commonly diagnosed in adults over the age of 40, although increasingly it is appearing in young people and young adults. Glucose builds up in the blood, as in people with Type 1 Diabetes, but symptoms appear more gradually and the diabetes may not be diagnosed for some years.

Norfolk is home to the UEA-IFG study which is a study looking at preventing Type 2 Diabetes. For more information and if you would like to take part, please phone 01603 597300 or visit www.uea-ifg.nhs.uk