Hanks has Type 2 diabetes

Tom Hanks, the Oscar-winning actor, has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, and doctors said the dramatic weight fluctuations he underwent to play screen roles could have contributed to the condition.

Hanks, 57, said on the US late night David Letterman Showthat he had been suffering symptoms for two decades but was only recently diagnosed.

He told host David Letterman: "I went to the doctor and he said: 'You know those high blood sugar numbers you've been dealing with since you were 36? Well, you've graduated. You've got Type 2 diabetes, young man.'"

In the 1992 film A League of Their Own he deliberately put on 14kg and for Cast Away in 2000 he lost 23kg.