Sweet tooth gnawing at 1 in 8 adults

MUMBAI: Shocking as it may sound, but one in eight adults in India either suffers from diabetes or is at a high risk of suffering from it.
According to the fourth edition of the Diabetes Atlas published by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), a total of 50.8 million adults in India suffer from diabetes, a number surpassed only by China. Also, there are 40 million Indians who are at a risk of developing Type II diabetes.
"India was considered the diabetes capital of the world.But China carried out a study this year which showed that there are 92.4 million diabetics in the country," said Ann Keeling, chief executive officer of IDF. "The study for this edition of Diabetes Atlas, however, started from 2007 and was published in 2009. When the results from a new nationally-representative diabetes study in India are published in 2011, we expect a rapid rise in the figures," she added.Doctors say that Indians are at a higher risk than their Caucasian counterparts. While the genetic make-up of Indians may be one of the reasons, a vitamin D deficiency may also play a major role in causing diabetes. "Asians have higher concentration of melanin than Caucasians, preventing them from absorbing sunlight. This is the reason Asians suffer from deficiency of Vitamin D," said Dr Anil Bhoraskar, senior diabetologist at S L Raheja Hospital in Mahim. "Vitamin D is required for the smooth functioning of the beta cells in the pancreas, which produce insulin. So a vitamin D-deficient person becomes insulin resistant, thus susceptible to diabetes," he added.
Another reason, says Keeling, is the lifestyle. "Indians tend to consume a fat-laden diet and have a sedentary lifestyle, which may be one of the reasons of the high diabetes numbers here," she said.