UK diabetes epidemic is unavoidable

A diabetes sufferer appointed to the advisory council of Diabetes UK as northwest representative has warned that a diabetes epidemic in East Lancashire is inevitable. According to Gordon Dixo, his aim is to educate local children on the links between obesity and diabetes.
Gordon Dixon is a retired mechanical engineer of Highfield, Langho who joined the charity after being nominated by the Ribble Valley voluntary group of which he is a founder member and chairman.
East Lancashire has one of the highest levels of diabetes around the country, due to poor diet, a lower standard of living and problems linked to deprivation. In the county, patients with diabetic conditions take up one in five beds at local hospitals, a figure twice the national average.
Mr Dixon is a type 2 diabetic, who was diagnosed at age 30. He said: “studies have found that children who are obese are more than twice as likely to have diabetes as those children who are of a normal weight. This is a major problem and needs addressing in children. Prevention is always better than cure. We need to educate them more from an early age. We are planning on how we can go into schools and target children.”