Defined as “a condition in which the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly”, word “diabetes” derives from the Greek for “siphon”, a reference to the copious urine excretion that characterizes this affliction. In common usage, the term diabetes is synonymous with diabetes mellitus. As it is another major non-communicable disease that has affected millions of people around the world, this disease has two varieties, each with its own cause: diabetes mellitus type I, caused by deficiency of the pancreatic hormone insulin and diabetes mellitus type II, in which insulin is available but cannot be properly utilised. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health Organisation (FAO/WHO, 2003), the incidence of diabetes is “currently estimated to be around 150 million”. They even predict this number “to double by 2025, with the greatest number of cases being expected in China and India”. In the UK, 1.4 million people were inflicted with diabetes in 2002 and a million more people “have the condition but are not yet aware of it” (Food Standards Agency, 2002).