DOCTORS today warned an East Lancashire diabetes epidemic was inevitable as rising obesity takes its toll.

The area has one of the highest levels of the illness in the country because of poor diet and problems linked to deprivation.

And Dr Geraint Jones, operational clinical director for East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, warned the diabetes time bomb looked set to explode in five years.

He revealed levels would be so extreme that the amount of money now available for diabetes in East Lancashire would be nowehre near enough.

Dr Jones, a consultant in diabetics at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, said one in every five beds at local hospitals were taken up by patients with a diabetic condition - double the national average.

Over 10,500 people in Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley have been diagnosed and the figure is constantly rising, with a similar number in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

Dr Jones said: "It has not yet been cost effective for the Government to act to stop this rise over the years - but time is running out."

He said obesity was a big factor but also blamed the environment and genetics, with areas of ethnic minority more prone to diabetes because of people's diet.

He said: "We live in a country where diabetes thrives. We don't have that much sunshine so we have less active hours of the day, we don't walk to work as it rains and poverty is another issue."

Anne Ray, secretary of Blackburn and District Diabetes UK and a diagnosed diabetic, warned problems also lie with unknown cases. Her initial diagnosis in 1991 came only after her foot contracted gangrene - until then she had no idea.

Mrs Ray, 67, of Revidge Road, Blackburn, added: "The figures are increasing every month, it is ridiculous how many there are in Blackburn."

"People don't realise how their weight and diet have such an impact and diabetes can be very serious. I mean my foot would have fallen off if I had ignored my condition!"

Jacqueline Wetherell, secretary at the Burnley branch of Diabetes UK, added: "Diet and exercise just cannot be stressed enough.

"I think they should screen for diabetes when they check for other things such as cholesterol or blood pressure. But they probably don't dare for what they would find."

Type one diabetes, the insulin-dependent version, is on the rise but the main increase has been in type two cases after it was linked with obesity.

Dr Jones revealed there were even more diabetics in the area than recorded although they still increased in East Lancashire by over 1,000 patients per year.

He added that other steps in the right direction would be inhalers for insulin, which were expected to be available from next year.

He said Lizard Spit, invented from a drug which mimics a hormone found in the spit of a poisonous lizard, the Gila Monster, is also thought to lower blood sugar levels and control weight.

Diabetes sufferers are at risk from heart disease, strokes, blindness and kidney disease - with around a million sufferers still undiagnosed.