"However, to deliver national strategies for diabetes prevention and reap these benefits would require substantial investments - well-trained prevention personnel working alongside GPs and nurses on a large scale. These systems could also be applied to managing cardiovascular risk. The question now is what will politicians and health services do with this information? In short, we know that diabetes prevention is possible and that the cost savings for health care and for society would be substantial - but do we have the courage to do it?"

He added: "By working with researchers and clinicians across Europe with a direct interest in diabetes, we have been able to create a practical guideline that can be implemented across the region with immediate positive effect on the health of the population and a longer term impact on the health services resources that will be needed to care for those with type 2 diabetes."

Gavin Terry, Healthcare Policy Manager at leading health charity Diabetes UK, said: "The enormous and worsening health challenge of Type 2 diabetes in the UK and Europe will only ever be tackled effectively with greater prioritisation of prevention strategies, coupled with vastly improved support for people to change their behaviours.

"Far greater numbers of people need to understand the symptoms and risk factors of this serious and costly condition. In the last ten years our risk assessment test, awareness road shows and pressure to improve early identification of Type 2 diabetes in primary care have helped half the figures of undiagnosed in the UK and prevented thousands from going on to develop the condition. Urgent investment in such schemes is needed if we are to stand any chance of reducing the future burden of Type 2 diabetes."

Anne-Marie Felton, President of the Federation of European Nurses in Diabetes, commented: "The imperative to establish sustained programmes for the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes in Europe is mandatory. The magnitude of the epidemic will overwhelm health care systems and failure to implement the evidence of the IMAGE programme will be a catastrophe for European society."

Professor Martin McKee, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, provided evidence on the importance of the environments in which people live, commenting that "the rapid increase in type 2 diabetes is a consequence of the remarkable changes in the ways we lead our lives during the past century. In so many ways, from cheap motorised transport to energy dense fast foods, we have created environments that are almost guaranteed to cause diabetes. Yet we also know that this is not inevitable. The IMAGE study has highlighted the contribution that prevention specialists can make to reduce the risk of diabetes but also why it is necessary for all levels of government to work together to develop policies that make it easier for everyone to make the healthy choice."

Source: The Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry