Mumbai: Rising cases of Diabetes amongst children and young adults”Dr Amin Kaba, MD (PEDS) FCPS DCH, Consultant Paediatrician, Masina Hospital, Mumbai
The turn of the century has seen rapidly rising numbers of people affected with diabetes and an alarming rise has been seen in young adults, adolescents, and children as well.
This is a ticking time bomb as all these early onset diabetics are going to land up with complications later in their lives putting a tremendous stress on the health system and the economic environment.
In 2012 about 56 million people died throughout the world; 620,000 of them died due to human violence (war killed 120,000 people, and crime killed another 500,000). In contrast, 800,000 committed suicide, and 1.5 million died of diabetes. Sugar is now more dangerous than gunpowder.
Obesity is the biggest contributor to the rise in incidence of diabetes. It’s also the most modifiable cause. Poor nutrition practices right from childhood, easy access to junk foods, cheaper cost of junk foods, increased intake of refined sugars and westernization of local diets have all played a role in increased incidence of obesity.
Indians have a higher propensity and genetic predisposition to such non communicable diseases (NCD) and when the traditional diets are given up they become easy prey to these NCDs.
Increased use of carbonated drinks and foods high in sugar, such as baked products made from white flour, processed, and packed ready-to-eat foods, fried foods, all have contributed to unhealthy eating patterns. These foods can induce chronic inflammation, leading to diabetes.
Increased accessibility to the internet coupled with increased screen time has dramatically reduced the physical activities and exercise in children and adults alike. This is another major factor that has led to obesity.
The pubertal period is associated with a significant transient reduction in insulin sensitivity by ∼50% in children. To compensate, insulin secretion must increase reciprocally, which may lead to hyperglycaemia in youth with limited B-cell capacity due to genetic and lifestyle factors. Combined with higher levels of stress, like pregnancy, creates a high-risk time for diabetes development in at risk individuals.
The awareness for lifestyle diseases has increased by leaps and bounds hence more numbers also get diagnosed. With increasing knowledge on timely interventions to prevent long term complications, even the definition for diagnosis of pre diabetes and diabetes has become stricter contributing to increased numbers.
It’s high time the world wakes up to this pandemic and works towards preventing diabetes by leading healthier lifestyles, make better choices regarding diet and work, regular exercise along with timely screening and early interventions.
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