News Analysis India

Tag: diabetes

  • Diabetes, obesity high among migrants from rural areas

    By Express News Service

    BENGALURU: A study by Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes found an increased risk of diabetes, obesity and hypertension among those who have migrated from rural to urban areas in India.

    The study, done across 28 states and two Union Territories, shows that prevalence of these non-communicable diseases is higher in non-migrant urban dwellers and rural-urban migrants. The study, ‘Effect of Internal Migration on Diabetes and Metabolic Abnormalities in India – The ICMR-INDIAB Study’ was published recently in the Journal of Diabetes and its Complications.

    “The national study on diabetes and associated cardiometabolic disorders was done in individuals who moved to a different place from their birth, and resided in urban locations for at least one year. It found that prevalence of diabetes, obesity and hypertension was higher in non-migrant urban dwellers and rural population who moved to urban areas,” the study says. The study was led by Dr R Guha Pradeepa, Senior Scientist at the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), Chennai, along with a team of scientists from various states. 

    The study being a complex one, involving 28 states and two UTs, was done in phases, and Karnataka was covered in Phase 2, which also included Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Punjab. In all, five phases were done with a sample size of 4,000 individuals in each state.

    Commenting on the study, lead author Dr Pradeepa says, “The prevalence of diabetes was 14.7 per cent among rural to urban migrants, 13.2 per cent among those permanently residing in urban areas, 12.7 per cent among urban to rural migrants, and 7.7 per cent among those who were permanently residing in rural areas,” he said.

    Interestingly, the study found that over half the population who migrated from rural to urban areas had abdominal obesity (increased waist circumference) and this was considerably higher compared to the other three groups. The risk for diabetes was nearly two times higher in those who migrated from rural to urban areas, compared to rural dwellers. “Five risk factors — hypertension, abdominal and generalised obesity, physical inactivity and low fruit and vegetable intake — together explained 70 per cent of increase in diabetes rate among rural to urban migrants,” Dr Guha explained.

    While the study proved that the risk was higher, especially in migrants from rural areas, Dr V Mohan, Chairman, Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre and President, MDRF, points out that this could be attributed to a change in diet, exercise and possibly other less studied factors like stress and environmental pollution. 

    Agreeing with the study findings, Dr Abhay Gundubarthi, endocrinologist, Sagar Hospitals, said, “People from villages who come to towns and cities tend to develop more body fat. The usage of oil, sweets, food habits, time spent on watching television etc are also some of the reasons,” he added. The researchers call for prevention programmes emphasising a healthy lifestyle for those living in urban settings.

  • Scientific cut-offs for salt, sugar and fat mandatory in processed foods, stress nutrition experts

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Scientific “cut-offs” for salt, sugar and fats in processed foods is mandatory if India wants to prevent the looming crisis of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs), nutrition policy activists advocated on Saturday pointing that it was all the more necessary in the background of a raging pandemic.

    In a meeting to discuss the need for a nutrient profiling mission for the country, experts and doctors attached with the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India, the Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest and a few other organisations pointed out that it has to be developed with the key goals of reducing consumption of sodium, saturated fat and added sugar.

    In India, analysis of sales data reveals that per capita sales of ultra-processed foods grew from about 2 kg in 2005, to about 6 kg in 2019 and is projected to grow to about 8 kg by 2024.

    Similarly, per capita sales of ultra-processed beverages are up from 2 litre in 2005 to about 6.5 litre in 2019 and are projected to be about 10 litre in 2024. In the country, more than 5.8 million Indians die every year from NCDs such as cancer, diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

    ALSO READ | Breakthrough Covid infections in those vaccinated may be higher in India, finds study

    The first comprehensive nationwide survey by the ICMR and several other government institutions to assess the risk factors for NCDs whose results were released earlier this year had also shown that a majority of Indians are at a significant risk of developing lifestyle diseases.

    The survey, for example, had for the first time estimated dietary intake of salt intake of population at a national level and found that adults in the country consume about 8 gm salt per day while higher than the recommended salt intake of 5 mg per day is considered a major risk factor for hypertension.  

    “An NPM that is able to adequately distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods can guide all food and nutrition regulatory policies, particularly related to correctly identifying foods with excessive amounts of potentially harmful nutrients such as sugar, fats and sodium, and help people make good food choices during these challenging times,” said Arun Gupta of BPNI.

    Regulators and policymakers must lay down mandatory thresholds which are within the limits as prescribed by the WHO, said former Union health secretary Keshav Desiraju.

  • Prevention of diabetes in pregnancy crucial to protect next generation from disease: Minister Jitendra Singh

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that prevention of diabetes in pregnancy is crucial to protect the next generation from the disease.

    He released guidelines for management of the health issue, prepared by the Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group of India (DIPSI).

    Singh is a noted diabetologist and one of the founding members of DIPSI.

    Delivering the keynote address at a National Gestational Diabetes Awareness Day summit, being virtually hosted from Bengaluru, he said that prevention of diabetes in pregnancy is crucial to protect the next generation from diabetes, according to a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.

    The minister said it was way back in 1970s that V Seshiah first gave the concept of ‘Spot Test’ for pregnant women, which in other words meant that any pregnant woman coming to hospital at any stage of pregnancy, fasting or non-fasting, should be subject to a blood sugar test.

    DIPSI is headed by Seshiah, one of the founding fathers of Diabetology in India.

    Many of his contemporaries at that time would not understand what it was all about, but it was in fact not only a revolutionary concept in clinical medicine but also a novel concept at the social level considering the heterogeneity and socio-economic constraints prevailing in the Indian society, said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel.

    He said it has taken almost a quarter century of intense research to institutionalise the concept given by Dr Seshiah and he felt proud to have conducted one of the earliest studies to test the outcome and benefit of tight blood glucose control in pregnant women.

    Singh said it is a matter of pride that the guidelines for the ‘Management of diabetes’ prepared under the guidance of Dr Seshiah are now being followed worldwide and even the World Health Organization has recommended the same, the statement said.

    The entire concept, Singh said, revolves around the fact that a woman with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus is prone to increase the risk of future diabetes in the progeny and, therefore, the aim should be to ensure a tight control of blood glucose level so that her metabolic milieu and intra-uterine environment is as normal physiologically as that of non-diabetic pregnant woman and the baby grows inside the womb without even realising that its mother had ever gone through diabetes, it said.

    Singh said the diabetes in pregnancy guidelines being released today will not only contribute to serve the cause of diabetes but also a humble contribution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘new India’.

    “The new India is comprised of 70 per cent of the population below the age of 40 years and the challenge faced today is increasing prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in the young. New India’s strength will be determined by its youth and it cannot afford this youth energy to go under-utilized because of diabetes-mellitus,” he added.