Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Diabetes- Catching its prey young!


Nation is getting younger..So is Diabetes, specially Type 2 Diabetes.

Earlier Diabetes or High Blood Sugar used to be a disease of the elderly, it wouldn’t even be suspected in a young patient, or if found it would be straightaway labeled as Type 1 Diabetes requiring lifelong insulin injections.
Its more and more frequently seen that even children of school going age being on anti diabetic medication. A big blame goes to the rising weight of the young population- according to available statistics some 29% children going to private schools and 11.9% children going to government funded schools in Delhi in the year 2009 were overweight. Excess weight leads to deposition of abdominal fat in Indians and the results in decreased insulin sensitivity, which fires a chain reaction leading to Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity and Dyslipidimea- all these conditions together constitute the Metabolic Syndrome.
Lifestyle changes taking place in the society are squarely to be blamed for this change, children prefer Fast Food which is rich in calories, harmful Lipids, Salt and Transfats, they usually have high glycemic index, all these causing high Blood Glucose levels, raising blood levels of fatty acids, causing Insulin resistance and its sequale like blockage of arteries in heart and Brain leading to Heart Attacks and stroke. Added to these is the sedentary lifestyle of our children;  outdoor games have been replaced by computer and Television, which require no physical effort and leave the children snacking while sitting on a sofa engrossed in their favourite shows or games. The same behavior may be tracked to adulthood- According to WHO estimates on NCD ( Non Communicable Diseases)- physical inactivity causes 6% of global deaths- same as Diabetes. A recent report mentions the average age of TCS (Tata Consultancy Services – a leading Indian Software Giant)- employees as 28 years, most of these are spending there time sitting at the desktops with no opportunity for physical activity.
The perils of Diabetes in this generation  are that  generation is more prone to risky behavior, and under peer pressure less likely to conform to the lifestyle changes advised ny doctors than the ‘wiser’ senior generation which has already undergone the ups and downs of life..If blood sugar levels are not controlled in this age group would soon end up with serious complications of Diabetes like Heart Attacks, Nephropathy, Retinopathy, Diabetic  Foot Disease. Most of the Diabetes complications are predictable, the morst may already appear in a span of 15 to 20 years, so these individuals at the prime of their lifetimes may be at great disadvantage because of the time and costs associated with these complications.

2 comments:

Mishthi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GRASS DIABETES said...

This is really knowledgeable post.

In addition to this i would like to say ,
Even after the best communication by doctors, a group of known diabetics were not following the proper compliance of diet, drug and exercise, simultaneously people around them did not help to encourage them to accept the disease.

For example-most of the diabetic patients are using sugar free tea, but eat sweets, some sugar addict diabetics create false hypoglycaemia and consume sweets with many other excuses.