Sharp rise in condition which cuts life expectancy by 14 years among under-40s in UK

A sharp rise in type 2 diabetes has been registered among people under 40 in UK. Medscape last year reported estimate that among 50-year-olds, life expectancy of those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at age 30 is 14 years shorter than that of their peers without diabetes. Among those diagnosed at age 50, life expectancy is 6 years shorter.

The number of people under 40 being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK has risen 39 per cent in six years. New figures from Diabetes UK show cases of type 2 among under-40s have increased to almost 168,000 from 120,000 in 2016/17. Diagnoses are rising at a significantly faster pace than among over-40s, for whom the increase was 25% in six years.

The chief executive of Diabetes UK, Colette Marshall, said: “Drastic changes to the environments we live in and the food we eat over the last 25 years are taking a toll on our health. We are bombarded by adverts for cheaper, unhealthy food. The foods on our shelves are increasingly high in fat, salt and sugar.

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"And rising costs are pushing a healthy diet out of reach for millions. These conditions, combined with genetic factors and stark inequalities, are driving rising levels of obesity, which increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”

“It is also associated with an increased risk of more rapid onset of devastating complications such as heart disease, kidney disease, sight loss and even an early death,” Labour said. The report’s authors wrote: “We estimate nearly 168,000 people under the age of 40 are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK, with nearly 150,000 people under 40 diagnosed in England alone.”

The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “It is an outrage that tens of thousands more young people are now suffering with type 2 diabetes thanks to years of Tory cowardice. The Conservative party has chickened out of acting on junk food advertising time and time again, despite obesity costing the NHS billions and having terrible effects on the health of our children.”

A spokesperson for NHS England said: “The NHS has invested significantly in services to help people prevent, manage and, in some cases, reverse type 2 diabetes, including specific support for people under the age of 40 – but it is clear that reversing this trend requires concerted action across industry, government and society to tackle obesity.”

The health minister, Andrew Stephenson, said: “We’ve invested more than £200m into diabetes research to accelerate the development of new treatments and improve care since 2019. Alongside this, we’ve reduced sugar in everyday foods, introduced mandatory calorie labelling on menus, and we’ve recently expanded the effective NHS soups and shakes programme to help thousands more people.”