FORMER X Factor finalist Amelia Lily has told the BBC’s Inside Out documentary programme how she has had to overcome diabetes to achieve her success.

The singer, from Middlesbrough, explains how she controls her type 1 diabetes on a daily basis.

She also visits Professor Roy Taylor, from Newcastle University, who has carried out studies into the condition.

He claims it is possible to reverse type 2 diabetes – which is linked to obesity – by following a strict diet of no more than 800 calories a day.

The programme, which airs on Monday at 7.30pm on BBC One, speaks to doctors, dieticians and patients as the costs to the NHS of complications caused by the condition continue to spiral.

Chief executive of Diabetes UK, Chris Askew, said: “As things stand we are certainly looking at a crisis in diabetes which threatens to bankrupt the NHS if we continue with these current trends.

“We really need concerted action right across society for us to fund more research, provide best possible care and crucially prevent so many cases of type 2 in future.”