Diabetes taking the face of an pandemic is a major cause of concern in the modern world. The World Health Organization (WHO) statistics state that the number of people with diabetes rose from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. Diabetes prevalence has been rising more rapidly in low and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. In India, more than 70 million people suffer from diabetes and not just adults, children too have been a victim of this condition. In a discussion with Dr. Dilip Nandamuri, MD FCCP, Physician and Diabetologist, Star Hospitals, Hyderabad, we learnt that the modern lifestyle is one of the biggest reasons why diabetes disease has become a trend in the current world scenario. What is more worrisome is that the many cases of childhood diabetes too have come up.
Factors Behind Rising Cases
There can be various factors affecting one’s health and cause diabetes. Dr. Dilip explains that some of them are reversible, while some stay irreversible.
- Eating junk food. Foods containing high amounts of sugar and saturated fats, that lead to obesity and ultimately diabetes
- Not maintaining a healthy weight. The Body Mass Index (BMI) of a person must fall within the normal range
- Sedentary lifestyle
- No regular exercise or improper workout routine, resulting is weight gain
- Stressful life
- Family history/hereditary
Where the hereditary factor is irreversible, other factors can be modified with the help of a healthier lifestyle and the incidences of diabetes can be reduced to a great level.
Talking about childhood diabetes, Dr. Dilip says that earlier, only Type 1 diabetes was common amongst children. It usually happened due to certain viral infections or health conditions causing post fever, which damaged the pancreatic cells and insulin production was hindered. The recent trend says that children are suffering from Type 2 diabetes too. It is a result of the changes in the lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercises or outdoor activities. These unhealthy practises lead to obesity in children and in turn causing type 2 diabetes.
Complications Associated With Diabetes
Dr. Dilip explains that the complications of diabetes can be broadly classified into two categories- microvascular and macrovascular.
Microvascular complications include:
- Diabetic retinopathy (vision problems)
- Nephropathy (kidney problems)
- Neuropathy (damage of one or more peripheral nerves)
Macrovascular complications include:
- Ischemic heart disease
- Heart attack/stroke
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Cerebrovascular disease
What Can Be Done?
Considering the reversible factor, our expert says that we can reverse the diabetes, provided that the patient is not reluctant to lose weight first and follow a proper diet plan. If any early diabetic loses at least 10% of their weight, they can become either non-diabetic or diabetic that requires only diet control and no medication. Therefore, the most important thing to keep in mind for diabetics is what we eat and how much we eat.
WHO states that simple lifestyle measures have been shown to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes. To help prevent type 2 diabetes and its complications, people should:
- Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
- Be physically active – doing at least 30 minutes of regular, moderate-intensity activity on most days. More activity is required for weight control.
- Eat a healthy diet, avoiding sugar and saturated fats.
- Avoid tobacco use – smoking increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Therefore, the cases of diabetes are rising at an alarming rate and the only way to reverse the trend is switching over to a healthier lifestyle and dietary habits. In India, as per the reported cases, Uttar Pradesh is the state with the highest number of diabetics around 4 lakh people, while Andaman & Nicobar stand the last with the lowest number of diabetics around two hundred people.
