High blood sugar increases the risk of diabetes

High blood sugar increases the risk of diabetes -and, in turn, complications of the disease such as blindness, kidney disease and nerve damage. 

The risk of heart disease is five times higher in middle aged men with diabetes and eight times higher in women with diabetes.

DiabetesUKestimates that the life expectancy of someone with type 2 diabetes is likely to be reduced - as a result of the condition - by up to 10 years.

Results of a 30 year study by theUniversityofPittsburgh, published in 2012, noted that people with type 1 diabetes born after 1965 had a life expectancy of 69 years.