Soaring number of adult diabetics

The data indicate one in 20 people is being treated for diabetes and almost one in 10 for obesity.

The increase in both conditions was described as "shocking" by a leading health charity.

Diabetes UK called on the Government to put into practice its rhetoric on tackling health problems through prevention.

Type 2 diabetes – which the vast majority of sufferers have – is strongly linked to being overweight or obese, leading a sedentary lifestyle and eating an unhealthy diet, the charity said. About 90 per cent of diabetics (2.5 million people) have the Type 2 variety of the condition.

The figures, collected from GP practices, showed that some 2.8 million people aged 17 and over in the UK have diabetes – an increase of more than 150,000 since last year.

The nationwide figure of people over 16 registered as obese meanwhile has risen to more than 5.5 million – an increase of more than 265,000.

Simon O'Neill, Diabetes UK director of care, information and advocacy, said: "Once again we see a shocking rise in diabetes and obesity rates in the UK.

"Many, but not all, people develop Type 2 diabetes because they are overweight or obese so we must keep up the mantra of five fruit and veg a day, encourage daily physical activity and warn of the potentially devastating consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle.

"The obesity-fuelled Type 2 diabetes epidemic is a clear example of where the new coalition Government's rhetoric of tackling health problems through prevention must be turned into action.

"Failure to act now means a bleak future of spiralling NHS costs and worsening public health.

"Diabetes is serious. If not diagnosed early or poorly managed, it can result in blindness and amputation or a shortened life expectancy from heart disease, stroke and kidney failure."

Another health charity, the Child Growth Foundation, warned that levels of diabetes and obesity were likely to rise still further.