Diabetes is "without a doubt the most underestimated disease'' and European victims could nearly triple to 60m in the next 20 years unless people exercise more and improve their diet, officials warned yesterday.

Maria Rauch-Kallat, health minister of Austria, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, deplored the fact that 14 of the 25 EU member states had not yet put in placeany national health programme to deal with Type 2 diabetes.