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Is India the new capital of diabetes?
Published on Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 01:00, Updated on Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 08:00 in Nation » India section
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New Delhi: November 14 was World Diabetes Day and according to top medical journal, The Lancet, India has the largest number of diabetics in the world, but do Indians ignore the seriousness of diabetes? Why is it that so many Indians have diabetes?
Doctors say that diabetes does not have to suffered, it has to be instead, lived with. However, another new and disturbing aspect of diabetes is emerging and that is that a diet of pizzas and burgers means the dreaded disease is increasingly hitting children.
So does this mean that urban lifestyle is the real culprit?
CNN-IBN's Sagarika Ghose talks to Jitendra Mohan - a textile trader and an insulin dependent diabetic, Senior Endocrinologist, Apollo Centre for Obesity, Diabetes and Endocrinolgy, Dr Ambrish Mithal, and Food Critic and diabetes patient Sabina Sehgal Saikia.
Sagarika Ghose: Jitendra Mohan, tell us is one the problems of being a diabetic in India is the fact that Indians don't take diabetes seriously enough and you did not either when you first came to know that you had diabetes?
BITTER TRUTH ABOUT THE SWEET KILLER |
Diabetes more prevalent in India than in US. |
| Only 8 per cent of US population suffers from diabetes |
| 12 per cent of Indian adults between 30-50 years of age have diabetes |
| In the 70s, only 4 per cent Indian population had diabetes |
| World population of diabetics is 177 million |
| By 2025, there will be 300 million diabetics in the world |
| India has 40 million diabetics |
| By 2025 India will have 57 million diabetics |
| Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death globally |
| Every fifth Indian is a diabetic |
| 20 per cent of the world's diabetic population is Indian |
| 2 out of every 1,000 children in India suffer from acute diabetes |
| Every fifth Mumbaikar will be a diabetic in the next 5 years |
| A leg is lost to diabetes every three years |
Jitendra Mohan: I was under the impression that it is a disease that will go away. And I took it in that manner. I was put on tablets and I was so busy building my career that I would sometimes forget to take the tablets. I didn't take the disease very seriously frankly speaking.
Sagarika Ghose: Was that because you really didn't know exactly what the disease was?
Jitendra Mohan: I didn't read up much on the issue. I just went to my family physician. He told me that I had diabetes and that there were certain precautions that I would have to take - take my medicines regularly and that maybe my medicines will continue for a lifetime. And my work pressure was so high that I really did not have the time to take care of myself.
Sagarika Ghose: So are you trying to say that anyone who has diabetes must take it very seriously because it has very serious consequences? What really are these consequences?
Jitendra Mohan: I once came to stage that the neglect caused serious hyperglycemia in my body. I would take my insulin and it would take me a little time before I could eat. And that's the time I realised that I was getting hyperglycemia quite frequently.
Sagarika Ghose: What exactly is hyperglycemia?
HARD-HITTING FACTS |
| Four diabetics are detected every minute across the globe |
| India expects a 57 per cent increase in the prevalence of diabetes by the year 2010 |
| 40-60 per cent of diabetics are likely to suffer from a heart attack |
| A diabetic is at a higher risk of developing blindness, infertility and kidney failure |
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