Diabetes and the most important defense for yourself

The Cover of India Today this week "Death By Sugar"

Diabetes is a national epidemic. I want to talk about some of the research on diabetes in India and South Asia and why you might be at risk and the most important protection you need to do for yourself.


So the facts are this :

• Indians and all South Asians are more at risk for diabetes
• We develop it at a lowed level of obesity compared to white Europeans
• We develop it at a younger age
• We even have "thin-obese" where you are thin on the outside, but obese on the inside
• But most of all, here's why you might be at risk ….

I was surprised to read that the most important reason we suffer from diabetes problems is we don't get diagnosed for it, we don't get tested for it. So we suffer damage from it before we act on it. This was reinforced to me when one of my neighbors, who is over 40 yrs of age told me he had not been tested for it. Being Indian, he should be getting tested. 


So my message to everyone reading this is- if you are over 30, get yourself tested for it. If your child is obese get them tested for it. Why ? We need to catch diabetes early.


There are many diabetics at age of 30 and above. We have patients who are in their 30's and diabetic. Your body's ability to recover is greater when you are younger so the younger you start treating it the more likelihood there is for full recovery.


For obese children I want to tell a story of a very close relative of mine, who was under 10. Only a little "baby fat". Turns out he had pre-diabetes ! Fortunately thanks to catching early the parents could intervene before he became diabetic. They changed the diet plan, no more sweets, lots of greens etc etc and the child now has a HbA1c of 5.2.

Getting diabetes caught early will be your best defense.