Scientists believe a new drug due to be trialed at a Midlands university could be a "magic bullet" for treating obesitylinked diabetes.
Following successful trials using rodents, researchers are due to begin clinical trials on humans later this year.
Obesity has now overtaken smoking as Britain's number one killer, with the NHS spending more than £2.5 billion a year tackling the condition and its related conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.
The West Midlands has one of the worst obesity records in the country, as one in four women and one in five men are classed as obese.
As a result health experts believe cases of Type 2 diabetes - which is linked to obesity - will increase across the region by more than 50 per cent by 2025.
This form of diabetes develops when the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, and is most common in people over 40.
The Birmingham University study into the effects of selective enzyme inhibition may also benefit people with metabolic disorders, which can cause sufferers to become obese. People who are obese tend to produce extra cortisol, a hormone everyone has in their blood. This can cause the kidneys to produce excess glucose, which may lead to diabetes.
A report by Professor Paul Stewart, based at the university's Institute of Biomedical Research, states that more than 30,000 people a year die prematurely due to obesity or a related condition.
But its conclusion suggests this study could have wide-reaching benefits. It reads: "The potential benefits in terms of insulin sensitization, weight loss and increased insulin secretion would seem to suggest these drugs are a 'magic bullet' in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome."
Prof Stewart hopes clinical trials will begin by the end of this year, with results due to be published next summer.
He said: "The aim of this compound tablet will be to reduce the risk of diabetes in obese people. In tests, subjects have show some weight loss, but we do not see this as an anti-obesity drug."
He added: "Practically, every pharmaceutical company have a compound or tablet in development, there's about 30 different trials ongoing.
"Depending on how all these trials go, the first of these pills or tablets could be available in three years' time."
About two million people in Britain are diabetic and eight out of ten Type 2 diabetes sufferers are obese.
More than 158,000 people in the West Midlands have this condition - about 20,000 were born with it but about 138,000 developed it in later life.
As well as being prevalent in overweight people, Type 2 diabetes is also common among the region's Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities.
Diabetes is only one of the "hidden hazards" of obesity, which is also linked to a heightened risk of heart disease, strokes and some types of cancer.
Prof Stewart added: "While the physical evidence of obesity is easy to see, there are many hidden health hazards like diabetes. It can also have a detrimental effect on fertility, particularly in women.
"The common sense solution to obesity is that people must realise there is no 'quick fix', and that they must look at ways of establishing a healthier lifestyle."
