Diabetes to become a poor man’s disease in India: expert

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Diabetes will soon be no longer a rich man’s disease and poor in India will become vulnerable to it in the next 10 years, warned an expert.

Noted diabetologist Dr V Mohan, who is also one of the principal investigators in Indian Council of Medical Research and India Diabetes, told Express India is going through a transformation phase and in the next 10 years it will emulate the West where it has become a poor man’s disease.

The study by ICMR has highlighted that rural population too have diabetes. In Tamil Nadu, it is 7.8 per cent while Maharashtra has 6.5 per cent. Similarly in Jaharkhand, it is three per cent while in Chandigarh it is 8.3 per cent.

Citing an example in Chennai, where diabetes is prevalent in slums, he said after a decade poor will be vulnerable as the cost of cure will be quite high.

“While rich and the middle class can afford the cost of healthy food, the poor will have to live on junk food resulting in more obesity,” he observed.

He said a new startling fact has also emerged from the study conducted in Jharkhand where there is no prevalence of diabetes in some areas. He said this is due to the fact that people in the area are undernourished and have low body mass index