Prevention best cure for diabetes: experts

LAHORE

Diabetes is a genetic disease but prevention is the best cure as balanced diet, regular exercise and healthy lifestyle keep the disease away.

“Giving up junk food and cold drinks, making fresh fruits and vegetables part of diet and doing regular walk or exercise daily will help prevent and control diabetes,” medical experts said at a seminar on “Living with Diabetes – Early Detection, Easy Treatment” organised by Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society (Jang Group of Newspapers) in collaboration with novo nordisk at a local hotel. 

Prof Dr Aziz-ur-Rehman, Professor of Medicine from Rashid Latif Medical College, said that, as per the figures of International Diabetes Federation, the diabetes prevalence was around 415 million globally in 2015, which was expected to rise up to 642 million by the year 2040, adding that the major chunk of this increase in prevalence rate was expected to be in African and Asian countries. He informed that diabetes was contracted without any signs o pain or fever and therefore called a silent killer, adding that prevention is the most cost-effective intervention to beat the disease. He said people should get their sugar test done regularly as excess of blood glucose from certain level determined diabetes in a patient.

He said diabetes had become a common disease as even 30-year-old people were also being diagnosed with this disease and additionally it can be inherited as well. “It is in our hands to prevent the disease before happening and to control the disease after happening,” he said, adding a balanced diet with fresh fruits and vegetables and 35 to 40 minutes of walk are the key to keep diabetes away. “If preventive measures are not adopted then diabetes can be dangerous and can invite more diseases to the patient,” he added. He advised people to keep portion size of food small.

Prof Dr Muhammad Ali Khan, Consultant Paediatrician, said that the diabetes was fast spreading among people not only in Pakistan but around the world, adding there was no specific age for contracting diabetes as it can affect people at any age. However, he said, diabetes was different from other genetic diseases as it can be prevented through preventive measures, and if contracted, it can be controlled through healthy lifestyle and diet.

He condemned the role of quackery in increasing the burden of disease and added that negative campaign of uprooting diabetes through local methods tantamount to misleading people.

Dr Muhammad Ali said diabetes can be avoided through breastfeeding, vaccination, homemade food instead of market’s fast food and regular exercise. He said parents should not get panicked about their children’s diabetes rather they should support and encourage their child to live a healthy life. He said legendary cricketer Wasim Akram should be a role model for all young diabetic patients, who didn’t let the disease overcome his mind was living a healthy life.

Prof Dr Taeed Butt, Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist, said that the awareness regarding diabetes in children had reached at an advanced level in developed countries, saying that the parents regularly monitored sugar among their diabetic children and also keep their doctors posted about their children’s condition regularly. He said insulin could help control sugar among diabetic children.

Dr Khadija Irfan, Head of Endocrinology, Department, SIMS/Services Hospital, said that more than 10 per cent population in Pakistan was suffering from diabetes. “The diabetes is also a genetic disease and can be inherited by children from their diabetic parents,” she said, adding major risk factors for type 2 diabetes include obesity and a sedentary lifestyle and it was affecting 95 per cent of sugar patients in Pakistan.

She said diabetic patients, after diagnosis of the disease, needed to take preventive measures to avoid contributing factors that increase harmful effects of the disease. “The patients should determine the type and quantity of their diet,” she said, adding that the meals in small quantity would help control sugar.

She also advised people to do regular exercise, use fresh fruits and vegetables to ward off diabetes. “Up to 10 per cent chances of diabetes can be decreased by reduction of 1 kg body weight,” she added.

Prof Dr Ahmad Bilal said that every seventh pregnant women in Pakistan contracted diabetes, saying that disturbance in hormones during pregnancy caused diabetes. Therefore, he said, the pregnant women should get their sugar test conducted to prevent its dangerous effects.

He advised the pregnant women to use simple food and avoid cooked food from market and cold drinks. He said that the pregnant women with diabetes should not start exercise on their own and they should do exercise according to their doctor’s advice.

Dr Jaida Manzoor, Assistant Professor Paediatric Endocrinology, said the diabetic child patients had been dying before the discovery of insulin in 1922, which infused a new lease of life among the diabetic children. She said that diabetes was spreading at a fast rate and if the trend continued then every 10th person would become diabetic in the next few years. She said incidence of type 2 diabetes was less among children and common in adults, adding 10 per cent of all diabetics were children in Pakistan. Munnoo Bhai, senior columnist and analyst, said it was necessary to create awareness about the diseases among people. 

Rashid Rafique Butt, General Manager novo nordisk, said the seminar was organised to create awareness among people to prevent diabetes and control it. “Awareness about diabetes is necessary to lead healthy lives,” he added. MKRMS Chairman Wasif Nagi conducted the seminar.