thanks its really interesting topic
--- Velu <velu8@...> wrote:

>
>
> The 4th World Congress on Prevention of Diabetes and
> its Complications, organised by the World Health
> Organisation, the Diabetes Research Centre and the M
> V Hospital for Diabetes in Chennai, the
> International Diabetes Federation, Belgium and the
> Centre for Disease control, Atlanta, concluded in
> Chennai.
> The decision to have the World Congress in India was
> taken by WHO mainly because every fourth diabetic in
> the world is an Indian. According to WHO
> projections, the 30 million to 33 million diabetics
> in India will go up to 40 million by 2010 and 74
> million by 2025.
> WHO has issued a warning that India will be the
> Diabetes capital of the world.
> Professor A Ramachandran, Head of the Diabetes
> Research Centre, was chairman of the organising
> committee of the World Diabetic Congress.
> In an interview to rediff.com Special Contributing
> Correspondent Shobha Warrier, he says Indians,
> irrespective of where they live, fall under the high
> risk group, hence they have to try to prevent
> getting diabetes.
> People were made to understand that diabetes was
> genetically transmitted, and there was no cure for
> it. Doctors were talking only about management of
> the disease. Suddenly, you have shifted the mode to
> prevention. The theme of the World Diabetic Congress
> was prevention.
> Once diabetes occurs, a person's metabolism changes
> so much that you cannot cure diabetes. Even before
> you are diagnosed as having diabetes, you have
> started having the risk of the complications of
> diabetes. Treating diabetes is a lifelong affair. We
> have limitations of controlling diabetes to the
> levels we want because bringing down the blood sugar
> value to normal is a challenge.
> When did the shift from cure to prevention take
> place? What was the reason behind the change in
> outlook?
> There is an increase in the prevalence of diabetes
> all over the world. At the same time, we find there
> is an increase in the risk factors associated with
> diabetes like obesity, sedentary life habits and
> stress. We realised the factors can be
> prevented/controlled.
> The question was asked, if you make people work
> more, walk more and reduce eating and avoid obesity,
> can you prevent diabetes?
> We know there is a way of identifying people with
> pre-diabetes although the word is not completely
> agreed upon. The pre-diabetic stage is where the
> blood sugar is not normal but below the diabetic
> criteria of diabetes. There are two categories; one
> is impaired glucose tolerance where the value is
> between 140 and 199, and the diagnostic value is
> 200. The other stage is impaired fasting glucose
> where the fasting value is above 100 and below 126.
> People who belong to this category have a very high
> risk of developing diabetes over the years
> especially if the family has a history of diabetes.
> Trials conducted in the US have found that by
> lifestyle modification and by reducing the weight by
> seven percent through physical activity, we can
> reduce the incidence of diabetes by 58 percent. We
> know that by controlling the risk factors on high
> risk individuals, you can reduce the prevalence of
> diabetes.
> So, the question is, why not prevent diabetes? That
> is why there is a big push on primary prevention of
> diabetes.
> You said obesity is considered one of the major risk
> factors. Why is it that Indians who are thin and
> lean are more prone to diabetes than the more obese
> Westerners?
> Our genetic susceptibility is more powerful. The
> propensity to become a diabetic is higher in
> Indians. We have a low threshold for the risk
> factors. Americans develop diabetes when the body
> mass index is 30 and 35. We develop it when the BMI
> is only 25.
> Why do we have a lower threshold?
> It is the racial difference. Reports say people in
> Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Mauritius
> and Mali share the common prevalence rates and seem
> to share the susceptibility genes, and the same
> environmental risk factors. We also share the
> lowered threshold of conventional risk factors,
> unfortunately.
> Are the risk factors applicable to Indians living
> anywhere in the world, or only to those who live in
> India?
> It is applicable to all Indians irrespective of the
> place they live. Some of the worst reports come from
> South Africa, the United Kingdom and the US. Indians
> living in South Africa have a higher prevalence of
> diabetes compared to South Africans and the white
> population.
> A report from London says Indians or South Asians
> living in London have a higher prevalence of
> diabetes compared to the white population or the
> Afro-Caribbean population although they are not more
> obese than the British.
> I wrote and published the first paper from India in
> the British Medical Journal where I compared the
> prevalence of diabetes in the urban population in
> India. It is as high as the prevalence of diabetes
> for Indians living in Southall in London.
> Some good studies have been done among Indians in
> the US, and it is found that 18 percent Indians
> living in Atlanta have a prevalence of diabetes,
> which is higher than the prevalence of diabetes in
> Indian cities. The prevalence of diabetes in the
> immigrant population is high, a little higher than
> what you see in Chennai and Mumbai. The reasons
> could be, they are under more mental stress. They
> must be taking high calorie food and there may be
> less physical activity.
> We have indications that Indian immigrants to the US
> and UK have a high prevalence of not only diabetes
> but coronary heart disease too.
> What precautions should Indians living all over the
> world take to prevent diabetes?
> If you have a family history of diabetes, and if you
> are a girl, you better start thinking about diabetes
> prevention at 20 to 25 as during pregnancy, you may
> test positive for diabetes. If you are a man and
> obese, you should start thinking about diabetes once
> you cross 25. If you are not obese, the disease may
> strike you only after 40. Family history of diabetes
> is a very important risk factor in all of us.
> We have a big problem in hand. The information
> technology professionals. They are under tremendous
> stress at work. We used to see many cases of
> diabetes among doctors and surgeons. Now we have
> this new class of very young people. They don't
> follow any timing, they have the pressure of
> deadlines, they have irregular meals, they work at
> night and they have only time to sit in front of the
> computer for hours and hours without any physical
> exercise.
> Similarly, if you take the case of immigrants, who
> are uncertain of their jobs, especially in the
> Persian Gulf region, develop diabetes more often.
> What we should do to guard is, first, don't gain
> weight. Be active. More importantly, childhood
> obesity should be prevented. Obesity in childhood
> leads to obesity in adulthood.
> Health education should start from the school level.
> Children should not be allowed to take junk food,
> and should be encouraged to indulge in physical
> activity.
> WHO has announced an awareness program on diabetes
> like they did for AIDS, tubercolosis, polio. How
> effective will this awareness campaign be?
> It will be very effective. A good example is
> smoking.
> Photograph: Sreeram Selvaraj
> Image: Uttam Ghosh
>
>
>
> G. Sarravanan ND, D.Nutr, D.MLD, Ad.HRM, Reiki
> Master, MATMS
> Naturopathic Physician & Nutritionist
> Centre Of Integrated Medicine
> www.cimed.com.sg, 5A Mayo Street, Singapore 208305
>
> Natural Medicine is our solution to all ailments.
> If you do not take care of your body where would you
> live?
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> Real people. Real questions. Real answers. Share
> what you know.




________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Need a vacation? Get great deals
to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
http://travel.yahoo.com/