BY: Dr Ajmal Rashid Bhat
The number of adults and older teens with diabetes in valley is increasing at a faster rate. Diabetes: ‘The hardest thing is waking up and part of your body has gone’ here has been a noteworthy increment in the predominance of hazard factors for Non-Communicable infections, for example, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular maladies, hypertension and stroke. These diseases have become major contributors to morbidity and mortality along with certain cancers. There is solid confirmation that this plague has been activated by social and monetary advancement and urbanization which are related with general change in sustenance and life span, stoutness, decreased physical exercise and development disappointment in earliest stages, increment vulnerability to diabetes and so forth. The prevalence of Diabetes is increasing globally and these numbers include women with Gestational diabetes mellitus. In light of statistic projections made by United Nations Population Division for the year 2025, WHO issued assessments of grown-ups with diabetes in all nations and announced that there will be a more women with diabetes than men and we may envision an extensive increment in the weight of GDM particularly in less prosperous nations.
While both types of diabetes are linked to genetics, type 1 diabetes is not associated with weight but is an autoimmune condition where insulin is not produced. It normally begins in childhood and accounts for about 10% of diabetes cases. Type 2 diabetes – where little insulin is produced, or insulin does not trigger an uptake of glucose by the body’s cells – is linked to obesity, and typically starts later in life, with about 60% of cases thought to be preventable. Both types bring with them the risk of complications such as blindness, stroke, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure and amputations.
An improper dietary intake is widely acknowledged as a major etiological factor for most of the long term non communicable diseases. The problem of not taking the healthy diet has now become a societal problem rather than being an individual problem. However, in view of the fluctuation in sustenance inclination and accessibility, financial factor, social concern and instructive level, it is hard to get to the dietary propensity with the expectation of complimentary living people. The national dietary review has a few essential capacities and gives profitable data on dietary propensities and nourishing status which is currently lacking in valley. Additionally, it winds up critical for any nation genuine about advancing the wellbeing and prosperity of its populace, to direct dietary checking for execution of projects identified with sustenance, nourishment and health promotion
Ever-increasing occurrence of gestational diabetes mellitus and its co-morbidities among females need instantaneous attention in terms of prevention and health education. Life style changes like increase in physical activity decrease in consumption of sweetened beverages and high energy foods should be started early in life and continued throughout the life. Universal screening for GDM should be followed, as women of valley are at a higher risk of developing GDM and subsequent Type 2 diabetes. Thus, timely action taken now in screening all pregnant women for glucose intolerance, achieving euglycemia in them and ensuring adequate nutrition may prevent in all probability, the vicious cycle of transmitting glucose intolerance from one generation to another and will also reduce the complications in mother as well as in child in postpartum. We have to change our eating habits, although, “Changing someone’s eating habits is very, very hard, but not impossible.
The author teaches Chemistry at GDC Bijbehara.
