GULBARGA: Diabetologist and medical director and chief executive of the KLES Hospital and Medical Research Centre Mallikarjun V. Jali on Tuesday sounded a warning that in the coming years diabetes will be one of the serious health problems in the country. There was an urgent need for taking up a campaign among the present generation to revert to their traditional lifestyle and food habits to prevent disease, Dr. Jali said.

Delivering the first Dr.G.V. Sambrani Oration sponsored by Dr. P.S. Shankar Pratishthan at the Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College here, Dr. Jali said that as per recent studies conducted by the World Health Organisation and other international agencies, in 1995, 135 million people were affected by diabetes world over. By 2025, the figure was likely to go up to 300 million.

Studies revealed that India alone would account for more than 40 million diabetics by 2025. Another disturbing feature was that the disease was affecting people in the productive age group of 20 to 55. Dr. Jali said one of the reasons for the alarming increase in incidence of diabetes among Indians was obesity due to the changing lifestyle and boom in the economy and the "fast food and junk food culture" among the people.

Health complications

He said that diabetes and obesity led to series of health complications including hypertension, major cardiovascular diseases, stroke, respiratory diseases, gallstones, osteoarthritis and breast and prostate cancer. Diet, exercise and lifestyle modification were vital to tackle diabetes and obesity. There was no short-term solution to obesity and lifelong management was required to prevent weight regain, he added.

Dr. Jali said that obesity predisposes patients to a variety of diseases. He said that sample studies of patients who underwent bypass surgery in the KLES multispeciality hospital in Belgaum revealed that 58 per cent of the patients had diabetes. Obesity problem was not limited to urban pockets and was spreading fast in rural areas.

Dr. Jali said that recent advances in research and development and also the cracking of genome mapping had revived hopes of finding new medicines for genetic treatment to obesity problem. Dean of the Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College Mallikarjun Bhandari presided over the function.

Trustee of the Dr. P.S. Shankar Pratishthan Manilal Shah welcomed. Senior medical teachers P.S. Shankar and Muralidharrao were present.

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