For every diabetic person in Mumbai, there is one with pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is the precursor stage in the disease with sugar levels higher than normal.
"There is one diabetic person for every 10 Mumbaikars, which is also the incidence for pre-diabetes," says leading diabetologist Shashank Joshi. The occurrence of diabetes is going to rise to one in every 5 in Mumbai in the next years. "Mumbai is a hub for pre-diabetes," says Joshi.Diabetes is a persistent growing illness that is usually associated with premature death. It affects 6% of the world’s adult population. India and China have the maximum population of diabetics. The number of diabetics in India is 35 million, which is expected to rise to 75 million in another 20 years.
The doctors blame lifestyle for the rise in diabetes and pre-diabetes. "Mumbaikars who lead crazy lives with high levels of stress, have little physical activity and follow unhealthy diets, are prone to pre-diabetes," explains Joshi, who is attached to civic-run KEM Hospital and Lilavati Hospital.
The major reasons for this rise are the inactive nature of work, increase in average incomes and the increasing influence of Western culture. People tend to get affected by the disease at a much younger age due to the increase in consumption of processed, fried and fatty foods.
Indians are being affected mainly by type 2 diabetes that is caused by obesity, less physical activity and genetic predisposition. It can cause blindness, amputations and even heart failure.
The results of this 6-centre study on pre-diabetes and ways to avoid its descent to diabetes were given by Dr. V. Mohan, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Chennai
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