Getting a Grip on Diabetes

In two decades, India will be home to 120 million diabetics. There are ways, though, to survive the looming ‘epidemic’. Here’s what you can do.

- Ritu Bhatia

If there’s any disease every single Indian needs to guard against, it’s diabetes. Characterised by an escalated blood sugar level, this non-communicable disease (NCD) impacts the young, middle-aged and elderly with a vengeance, reducing their productivity and life-span. Early detection, treatment and the cultivation of a healthy lifestyle are measures recommended to ward off the dire consequences.

Over the past 10-15 years, India’s disease burden has shifted from communicable to non-communicable diseases. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 60 million people in India suffer from diabetes. Last year, The Lancet reported that the prevalence of diabetes has more than doubled for men in India (3.7 per cent to 9.1 per cent) and increased by 80 per cent among women in India (4.6 per cent to 8.3 per cent) ­between 1980 and 2014.

Experts say the number of diabetics in India is expected to touch 120 million over the next two decades. “Type 2 Diabetes is likely to lead to the biggest epidemic and public health issue in ­human history, posing a huge barrier to economic development,” says Dr Kenneth Thorpe, chairman, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD). The ­financial implications of this scenario are staggering: the current cost of treating diabetes and its complications in the world is estimated at $215-375 billion and this figure is slated to rise.

Blame it on the butter

Modern lifestyles in urban India can be blamed for the surge in NCDs such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and some cancers. “A diet high in processed and fatty foods rather than fresh, wholesome foods, in combination with reduced physical activity, has increased the average risk of diabetes,” says Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis C-DOC.