Diabetes epidemic looms

THE country is facing an epidemic of adult diabetes, with the number of estimated cases at 200,000 and growing.

But early detection and treatment of the disease, which is linked to obesity and poor diet, could deliver huge cost savings to the overburdened Irish health system, doctors in the mid-west said yesterday.

Half the estimated diabetes sufferers in Ireland are unaware they have a condition which can pose serious health problems if not detected and treated, the doctors said.