A new treatment could save thousands of people with diabetes from needing kidney dialysis or even a transplant.

Kidney disease is one of the biggest complications from type two diabetes, which is caused by poor diet and lack of exercise.

But a major new study shows the risk of permanent organ damage is slashed by 21% if patients are given higher-than-normal doses of drugs to force down their blood sugar levels.

The findings, presented at the American Diabetes Association annual conference in San Francisco, come from a study of more than 11,000 patients and were hailed as a major breakthrough by British experts.

Professor Simon Heller, an expert in diabetes at the University of Sheffield, said: "Kidney disease is one of the most feared complications from diabetes.

"Patients have a terrible time and many end up in hospital on dialysis or waiting for a transplant.

"If we can reduce the risk of that happening by the amount shown in this study, it would make a huge impact."

Britain faces an epidemic of type two diabetes thanks to rising obesity rates.

It is estimated that at least two million people are affected by the condition, raising their risk of damaged kidneys, heart attacks and strokes.

Type one diabetes, on the other hand, normally develops in childhood and is not linked with diet or lifestyle.

About one-in-three people with diabetes go on to develop kidney disease. The new research, called the Advance study, shows treating blood glucose with a combination of drugs in higher than normal doses can reduce glucose levels so much they resemble those of people who do not have diabetes at all.

However, other researchers who tried aggressive glucose lowering to see if it reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes were forced to abandon trials earlier this year when the treatment appeared to actually increase the risk of death rather than lower it.

The Advance study found there was no increased risk of death but neither did the treatment reduce a patient's chance of heart disease, as researchers had hoped.