Belly fat is the biggest problem for Indians, causing diabetes and heart disease

The greatest finding of this study is the prevalence of prediabetes. Her 15.3 percent of the population, or a whopping 136 million people, was found to be pre-diabetic and awaiting the transition to diabetes.

Approximately 30 to 50 percent of prediabetics will transition to diabetes. Some people remain pre-diabetic, and a few may relapse. People in the early stages of prediabetes may lose a few pounds and return to normal. But if you don’t do anything, you can gain weight and progress to diabetes. Indians are more likely than Caucasians to develop diabetes from prediabetes, taking 5-10 years.

In short, this study shows that there is an opportunity to prevent diabetes in 136 million people. Even if some of these people do not transition to diabetes, the burden of diabetes is still likely to increase from the current 101 million to 150 or 200 million. It’s like a time bomb waiting to explode, but it can be defused.

It not only prevents the progression to diabetes, but also reverses the early stages of diabetes. People with less than 5 years of diabetes history and moderately high HbA1c levels (HbA1c measures average blood sugar over a 3-month period) adopt a healthier lifestyle, eating better and exercising regularly. You can return to pre-diabetes or a normal state by doing .

About 40 per Indian are found to have abdominal obesity. What will this impact look like in the next 5 or 10 years?

Both systemic and abdominal obesity were investigated in this study, and it is well known that abdominal obesity is high in India. Obesity rates are very high in this country, especially among women. There is not much lag among men either.

This will, of course, affect the diabetes rate in the country. Obese or overweight people who have a family history of diabetes develop diabetes. Obesity is unlikely to lead to diabetes if there is no history of diabetes within three generations, but it can still cause all the other problems associated with obesity. It can cause sleep apnea, osteoarthritis of the knee leading to knee replacement surgery, back pain and spinal problems, cardiovascular disease such as heart failure, an enlarged heart, heart attack, and blood pressure.

We also found that the prevalence of these non-communicable diseases (NCDs) varies greatly from state to state. What is the reason?

The wide variation in NCD prevalence is due to the different socioeconomic conditions of people living in different states. Take South India for example. Enrichment of education such as Bangalore and her IT revolution led to the development of the state. But the pressure of competitive work means more people are not eating out and living a healthy lifestyle.

Other states are catching up. This study shows that prediabetes prevalence is high even in states that currently have low diabetes prevalence. States with a high diabetes burden (approximately 25%) have a low proportion of prediabetes. Diabetes there has reached a plateau. There may be some increase over the years, but not by much. States with low prevalence are more likely to have an increased incidence of diabetes. And even a 5% increase in those states would mean millions more people with diabetes in the country.

The government has already started testing for these NCDs at health centers. What else can be done to prevent further increases?

Screening for these diseases is a very important step by the government. For blood pressure, for example, there is a rule of half. Only half of people with the disease know they have it, half of those who know start treatment, and half on treatment have their blood under control. pressure level. Screening ensures that people know their condition.

Similarly, people with high levels of bad cholesterol can easily control it with diet and drugs called statins. Diagnosis also often awakens people to make lifestyle adjustments. In our practice, we have seen that obese people may not necessarily take obesity seriously until they have a diagnosis such as diabetes.

Outside of screening, awareness is key. Interventions for all NCDs are simple and similar. People need to eat better and that means less carbs. India has a very high carbohydrate load, which is one of the reasons for the NCD epidemic in India. Carbohydrates such as rice and roti should only make up a quarter of the dish, proteins, including vegetarian protein from legumes, should make up another quarter, and vegetables should make up half. In addition, regular physical activity, adequate sleep, and cessation of smoking and drinking are also necessary.

Will Indiab conduct these studies on a regular basis to document increased levels of metabolic disorders?

Data for the current study were collected over many years, so it is not always possible to study participants from all over the country. However, Indiab is investigating the incidence of NCDs in Arunachal Pradesh, which had the lowest incidence when the first phase of the study was conducted in 2008, and Tamil Nadu, which had the highest incidence at the time. are doing. This helps us understand changes across the country over the years. Indiab is also conducting studies looking at the incidence of complications such as blindness, amputation, kidney failure and heart disease in people with diabetes.

Why Dr. Mohan? Dr. Mohan is a prominent diabetes scientist and is also President of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, his ICMR Advanced Center for Type 2 Diabetes Research. He is also president of Dr. Mohan’s Center for Diabetes Specialty. He has published over 1,500 of his publications and has been awarded the BC Roy Dr Award, India’s highest honor for physicians, and the Padma Shri Award, his fourth highest private award. I’m here.