More pharma labels may have to be printed for diabetes medication after a study revealed there are far more sufferers of the condition than was previously predicted.

While the World Health Organisation expected there to be 285 million cases by now, there are actually 347 million adult diabetics across the globe.

This is more than double the number recorded in 1980, with developing countries such as India seeing the biggest increase, the research published in the Lancet said.

Harvard School of Public Health representative Goodarz Danaei, one of the co-authors, warned that unless steps are taken to prevent people getting the condition, "diabetes will inevitably continue to impose a major burden on health systems around the world".

Earlier this month, scientists at Newcastle University suggested that Type 2 diabetes - in which the body is no longer responding properly to insulin - could be cured by a strict diet of 600 calories a day for eight weeks.

Denny Bros Ltd, 28 June 2011