This disease can strike at any age but is most commonly diagnosed in children and young adults and tends to be more dramatic in that symptoms come on extremely quickly. This form is to be treated with a controlled diet and regular exercise and usually requires one or more injections of insulin a day.

How is diabetes treated?

The main aim of treatment for both type 1 and type II diabetes is to keep blood glucose levels as close as possible to normal to minimise the risk of developing complications.

Whereas part of the treatment for type 1 diabetes involves regular insulin injections, treatment for type II diabetes is generally achieved with the use of tablets as well as changes to lifestyle.

The tablets given to type II diabetics to lower blood sugar levels include the sulphonylurea drugs that stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin and make the insulin work better once it gets to the cells; and the biguanide drug, metformin, that boosts the effectiveness of insulin in the body.

Lifestyle changes include a healthier diet, high in fibre, low in refined carbohydrates and low in saturated fats, as well as taking more exercise.

For people with type 1 diabetes, lifelong daily insulin injections, regular blood glucose tests using a finger-pricking device, and a disciplined eating plan and regular exercise are usually required. Fortunately research continues on pancreas transplantation as well as the transplant of the specific insulin-producing cells.

Those with type II diabetes may go back to normal levels of blood sugar as they get back to normal weight and start to exercise regularly.

What's the best way to avoid developing diabetes?

Finnish and US studies in the last 18 months both clearly show that those who are susceptible to developing diabetes can dramatically reduce their risk with aggressive lifestyle intervention, aiming for seven per cent of body weight loss and 150 minutes of exercise per week, according to Dr Twigg.

"If you have pre-diabetes, your risk of developing diabetes is roughly five to 10 per cent per year," explains Dr Twigg. "Without aggressive intervention, after five years, up to half of the group will have developed diabetes. We know we can reduce the risk by more than half in this group with significant weight loss and regular exercise."

How's the future looking for diabetes?

The focus is on prevention rather than cure, says Dr Twigg. "The earlier diabetes is diagnosed the better. We're also trying to detect tissue damage as early as possible to prevent complications."

As far as treatment goes, there are new types of medication being developed, including a drug that tries to stop the adverse effect of glucose on cells. "There's also a new drug being trialled in Australia based on the saliva from the gila monster, a lizard found in the Arizona desert," says Dr Zimmet. The saliva, it turns out, lowers blood sugar levels. Safer, more reliable forms of insulin are also being trialled, including inhaled insulin; while companies are trying to produce insulin in tablet form.

Trials are underway at Sydney's Westmead Hospital to transplant insulin-producing cells into people with type 1 diabetes. "It's early days with this one, but the results are looking quite hopeful," says Dr Twigg. "Down the track, it may be possible to infuse insulin producing cells into people with type II diabetes as well."

The International Diabetes Institute and Deakin University have discovered a gene that may have enormous implications for not only diabetes, but also ageing, cancer and a number of chronic diseases. "That's very exciting," says Professor Zimmet. "We're the only group in the world working on that." The group is also looking at the role of potato toxin and other food toxins in causing type 1 diabetes.

All in all, the outlook for anyone with diabetes is much brighter than it was 15 or 20 years ago. "We used to be pretty negative about diabetes because there weren't good studies to show that good control reduced the risk of complications, and we didn't have the ways of treating diabetes that we do now," says Professor Zimmet.

But rather than viewing it as purely a chronic condition, type II diabetes can be seen as a wake-up call, as an opportunity to ditch or improve your bad habits, so leading to a much better quality of life as well as a longer life.