An inch or two from Diabetes?
23rd October 2006
Mike Penning is supporting Diabetes UK's "Measure Up" campaign.
Hemel MP, Mike Penning attended the Diabetes UK awareness day in Parliament this week. The aim of which was to highlight waist measurement as a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes UK’s Measure Up awareness campaign urges people to grab a tape measure and check their waistline as a quick and easy first step to assess their diabetes risk.
Research has shown that a large waist could mean you are up to twelve times more likely to develop diabetes. At risk waist measurements are 37 inches or more for men (except those of South Asian origin whose waists should not exceed 35 inches) and 31.5 inches or more for all women.
Douglas Smallwood, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK said, “There are 750,000 people in the UK who have diabetes but don’t know it – that’s equivalent to the entire population of Leeds. Many people don’t realise they’re at risk and shockingly can go undiagnosed for up to 12 years. The longer people are left undiagnosed, the higher their risk of heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure and amputations. Our simple health check could save many people from a future of ill health.”
As part of the Measure Up campaign, the charity is also launching its ‘Are you at risk?’ online tool, a two minute interactive test, designed to help people understand how high their diabetes risk is. Measure Up aims to make people aware of the risk factors including waist size, weight, age, family history and ethnicity and encourage those with at least two risk factors to get themselves tested. The campaign is supported by an educational grant from sanofi-aventis.
Measure Up is supported by Rosie Winterton MP Minister of State for Health Services with responsibility for diabetes issues, and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes.
