Diabetes is a condition which affects the levels of insulin in a person’s blood affecting approximately 5% of the UK population. Diabetes symptoms are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout society with the number of people diagnosed in the UK rising from 1.4 million to 2.9 million over the past 15 years, representing approximately 5% of the UK population.

There are two forms of diabetes type I which results from the body’s failure to produce insulin as a result of an auto-immune process with very sudden onset; approximately 15% of people with diabetes have type I. The second form is type II diabetes which results from insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly, sometimes resulting in a complete insulin deficiency; approximately 85% of people with diabetes have type II.

Although diabetes is currently well controlled with daily insulin injections with increasing numbers of people developing the condition, more and more research is beginning to focus on looking for a diabetes treatment which does not require daily injections to manage the condition.