Diabetes What's New & What's Next

IT’S NO EXAGGERATION to say that diabetes is an international health emergency.

- Lisa Fields

According to the International Diabetes Federation, as of 2017, 425 million adults (aged 20 to 79 years) in the world have some form of the disease; experts estimate that this number could go up to 629 million people by 2045. In the same year, India alone reported 7,29,46,400 diabetes cases.

Type 1 diabetes, caused by an immune system attack on the pancreas, usually strikes younger people and follows them throughout their lives. Type 2 diabetes is more common and caused by resistance to the hormone insulin, which tells the body to absorb blood sugar. According to Dr Ambrish Mithal, chairman, division of endocrinology and diabetes, Medanta – The Medicity, Gurugram, “Type 2 diabetes cases are increasing rapidly and they are now occurring at a younger age. The figures are staggering. In Delhi and Chennai 20 per cent of people get the disease by age 40. About 30 to 40 per cent have type 2 by age 60.”

But here’s the good news: Over just the past few years, a remarkable number of diabetes treatments, from medication to surgical solutions to high-tech devices, have shown promise. It’s too soon to declare victory, but these breakthroughs have given people with diabetes something sweet: Winning strategies for today and considerable hope for the future. Here are six that are already here or on the way.

FOR PREDIABETES

Prevention Programmes

WHAT IT IS As recently as last year, Pamela Hancock, 67, of Northwich, England, wouldn’t think twice about eating a dozen ormore lard-roasted potatoes as part of “THIS her dinner or a hulking slab of chocolate cake for dessert. “I knew about healthy eating, but as the years have gone by, the plates got piled up more and more,” Hancock says.