World Diabetes Day: Indian Children Increasingly Vulnerable to Diabetes

Gurgaon, November 14, 2014: With 65 million people living with diabetes, health experts acknowledge that India is already facing an epidemic of diabetes. Diabetes not just complicates everyday living, it also puts the affected person at strong risk of complications of the heart, kidneys, brain and eyes.

As we struggle to find ways to contain the ramifications of this health disorder, a dangerous subtheme is the increasing incidence of diabetes among children in India. As we observe the World Diabetes Day, we need to take a closer look at the seriousness of the threat in children and the reasons driving the dangerous trend.

Diabetes today is one of the world’s major health disorders. Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreas. It is important for metabolism and utilization of energy from the ingested nutrients - especially glucose. In type 1 diabetes, an auto-immune reaction attacks the cells that produce insulin resulting in very little or no insulin production. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance in which the body fails to utilize the insulin produced by the pancreas. Both conditions cause the levels of glucose go erratic in the blood.

Type 2 diabetes comprises almost 90 per cent of the total diabetes incidence and is considered as adult-onset diabetes. Though there is no consolidated data on T2DM in children in India, doctors are witnessing a dangerous trend of children being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in recent years.

 “The risk factors of diabetes are directly co-related with urban life. Lack or total absence of physical activity in children, who are more often glued to television sets or video games rather than the playing field; and food habits comprising of high fat, high energy foods that result in  obesity, are direct socio-economic consequences or rapid urbanization that put children under the threat of type 2 diabetes,” says Dr. Ravindra Gupta, General Physician, Columbia Asia Hospital.

 

-----------------------------

Readers may send their news/views/feedback to us: