Diabetes rates set to soar by up to 60%

OVER 140,000 Irish adults are living with diabetes and a further 200,000 are unaware that they have a condition which is set to balloon in Ireland.

Experts say incidences of the condition, which takes up 10% of the national health budget, will rise by up to 60% over the next 20 years due to rising obesity and unhealthy lifestyles.

A national diabetes register was called for as new figures showed that 82,256 women and 58,807 men are living with the condition, caused by an inability to digest sugar and a build-up of glucose in the blood.