There are currently over 3.2 million people with diabetes in the UK, or 6 per cent of the adult population, and 85–90 per cent of these sufferers have type 2.

Diabetes mellitus is a disorder where the body doesn't produce enough insulin, or doesn't react properly to the insulin it produces, causing a build-up of glucose in the blood. Type 2 diabetes often smoulders on for a long time before it is recognised and diagnosed – it is believed that there are hundreds of thousands of undiagnosed cases in the UK.

This book gives the basic information needed to understand what type 2 diabetes is, how to recognise it, and, most essentially, how to manage it, including details on: