​ ​	More and more people are being affected by type 2 diabetes. Here, Mayank Patel, our Tooting pharmacist, has some vital info on what you can do to reduce the risk and how the Barrons branch of the Pearl Chemist Group can help.

Type 2 diabetes has become more prevalent in the last few decades due to changing lifestyles – less exercise, fattier foods, overconsumption of alcohol etc. However, you can reduce your risk of developing diabetes by doing more exercise, eating a healthy and balanced diet, cutting down on your alcohol intake and stopping smoking.

In Wandsworth alone, 15,000 residents are living with diabetes, and 25,000 more on the verge of developing it. Diabetes can seriously affect your health. An ever increasing number of people are affected by diabetes; it can affect your loved ones and be a costly disease to manage for the NHS, social care and society at large. It is especially important to be aware of how to prevent the development of diabetes – tangible changes to one’s lifestyle can have a very positive effect.
 

Who does it affect and how?

Type 2 diabetes can affect anyone. However, there are factors that can put people at a higher risk of developing diabetes, including:

• Having a relative with diabetes;
• Being over the age of 40 (although diabetes can develop at any age);
• Being overweight and having a sedentary lifestyle
• Having a waist measurement greater than 80cm (31.5 inches) for women and greater than 94cm (37 inches) for men;
• Being from black, Asian or other ethnic communities with a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 23. 
   

How can Barrons Chemist help?

Prevention of disease and health conditions in people is key to improving the overall health and wellbeing of the population. In order to aid you in this, it is important to measure your blood pressure, blood sugar levels and cholesterol regularly.
 

At Barrons Chemist, our team of highly experienced pharmacists and technicians provide various types of health checks and offer personalised and tailored advice on how to improve your health in the most effective way. The services consist of blood pressure measurements and body mass index measurement. As a private service, we can also measure your blood glucose level as well as your cholesterol levels. A thorough health check will take between 20 to 30 minutes.

Our highly experienced team will help you with discussing ways to improving your diet, ways to increasing the amount of physical activity you do, how to effectively lose weight and maintain a slimmer physique or help you with ways to stop smoking.
 

Is any medication needed?

After the consultation, the pharmacist may wish to refer you to your doctor if they feel this will benefit you. This may be especially true if it is felt that lifestyle changes will not make a significant difference to your health. Your doctor may wish to start you on medication if they feel this will benefit you.
 

What is the cost?

At Barrons Chemist we provide a private service where we measure your BMI, blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol levels for just £12.50. This cost is reduced to £9.99 if you mention Tooting Daily PRSS.

You can find out more on the Pearl website or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The Pearl Chemist Group is one of our Community Partners. To find out more, click here.