Tom Hanks reveals he has type 2 diabetes after experiencing symptoms for TWENTY years

Tom Hanks has revealed he has been diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes.
The 57-year-old Hollywood actor shared news he has been diagnosed with the common form of the disease - which is the result of the body not producing enough insulin to function properly - in an interview with chat show host David Letterman.
Tom admitted he has been experiencing symptoms for 20 years but only recently received the  diagnosis from his doctor.

Keep calm and carry babies: Tom Hanks pictured arriving at Claridges Hotel carrying his grandchild in in London on Tuesday after revealing he has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes

Tom Hanks reveals he has type 2 diabetes on Letterman show

Diagnosis: Actor Tom Hanks, seen here arriving ahead of his interview on Monday night, has revealed he has type 2 diabetes on chat show Late Show With David Letterman

WHAT IS TYPE 2 DIABETES?

Diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot efficiently use it to convert glucose to provide energy. 

Tom Hanks speaking at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences official Academy members screening of Captain Phillips on October 7

World Health Organisation statistics show that 347 million people worldwide have the condition, which can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves -  increasing the risk of heart disease, kidney failure, stroke and blindness.
Type 1 is caused when the cells that produce the hormone insulin are destroyed – and is usually diagnosed early in life.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the insulin produced becomes less effective - normally as a result of being overweight and inactive. The body needs more and more insulin to try to keep blood sugar within a normal range. 
Although the biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes is weight, genes can also have an important role.
And one in five people with the condition  - such as Tom Hanks - are not obese, with many leading healthy lifestyles.
The problem is that the stereotype of the type 2 diabetes sufferer means that as many as one million people may be going undiagnosed simply because they do not believe they are in a high-risk group.
Experts warn that invisible internal fat around vital organs could be placing this group at risk.
The usual treatment for type 2 diabetes is diet and lifestyle changes and taking metformin, a drug that boosts the amount of insulin taken up by the cells. In more severe cases, patients need to inject themselves with insulin.

Other celebrities who have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes include Halle Berry, Patti Labelle, Drew Carey and Chaka Khan.
Hanks shared the news after David Letterman commented on his weight and said he was looking relatively trimmer. 
Speaking on the show Tom said: 'I went to the doctors and they said', "You know those high blood sugar numbers you've been living with since you were 36, well you've graduated, you've got Type 2 Diabetes young man"'.

All about the numbers: Tom explained that he's been living with a high blood sugar count since age 36 and it graduated into Type 2 Diabetes

Thinner and wiser: He's taking better care of himself now and looks thinner than he has in years

Loves food: Tom has admitted that he loves to eat, but now curbs those cravings to stay in shape

Tom Hank's wife actress Rita Wilson will be keeping an eye on his diet after it's been revealed he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes

The usual treatment for type 2 diabetes is diet and lifestyle changes and taking metformin, a drug that boosts the amount of insulin taken up by the cells. In more severe cases, patients need to inject themselves with insulin.

The 57-year-old actor is known for taking on roles that have required him to lose and pile on the pounds.

In 1992 he packed on 30 pounds to play baseball coach Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own.

Drastic: Tom Hanks lost 26 pounds while playing an AIDS sufferer in Philadelphia

Up and down: Tom Hanks gained 30 pounds for his role in A League Of Their Own in 1995 but gained and lost 50 pounds for his role in 2000's Castaway

Caffeine habit: Drinking so many cups of milky coffee during the filming of The Terminal, Hanks gained weight so has since given it up

And for Castaway he dropped from 225 pounds to 170 pounds to realistically portray a man stranded on a desert island.

In a bid to control the symptoms of the disease the Hollywood star is in better shape, and is thinner than he's ever been.
However his doctor has suggested he gets back down to his high school weight of 98 pounds which the actor laughed off as an impossible target.
He explained: 'Well it's controllable through diet.'
'My doctor said, "If you can weigh what you weighed in high school, you'll essentially be completely healthy and not have type 2 diabetes."

The Oscar-winning star said: 'Well I'm going to have type 2 diabetes then.'

Ironically Tom describes himself in his bio as: 'I'm that actor in some of the movies you liked and some you didn't. Sometimes I'm in pretty good shape, other times I'm not. Hey, you gotta live, you know?'.

The 57-year-old Oscar winner stands alongside his Captain Phillips co-stars who both play Somalian pirates in the new movie on the right Mahat M. Ali and on the left Faysal Ahmed

Meanwhile Tom is being hotly tipped to receive an Oscar for his latest movie project, Captain Phillips, where he plays the heroic skipper whose vessel is taken over by Somalian pirates.
The European premiere will open the 57th BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday night, and for the first time a gala screening will be streamed live to thirty Cineworld cinemas across the UK and Ireland.
And Tom will answer questions from fans ahead of the premiere on Twitter using the hashtag #AskTomHanks.
Tom (@TomHanks) will be taking over the Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) Twitter handle at 6pm on Tuesday and will spend an hour replying to questions from fans this evening.
He has more than 7.2 million followers on Twitter.

Tom Hanks as the under-fire Captain Phillips