Sedentary life, 'Western' diet cited as major causes of diabetes

Need stressed for preparing guidelines for diabetics wanting to fast during Ramazan

KARACHI: International Diabetes Federation (IDF) President Prof Nam Han Cho has declared 'Westernisation' as a major cause of diabetes in Asian countries stretching from Asia Pacific to the Middle East and North Africa.

He was addressing a press conference at the Fourth International Diabetes and Ramazan Conference.

"By Westernisation, I mean sedentary lifestyle and food that comprises more meat and carbohydrates. Asians used to live a simple life and consumed a lot of vegetables but now they are consuming more meat and living a mechanised life," he said.

Prof Cho, who belongs to South Korea, explained that Asians produced less insulin compared to people of other regions and so when they started a sedentary lifestyle by following Western culture, ate more meat and carbohydrates and desisted from their traditional rigorous lifestyle, they developed diabetes faster than people of other areas.



"Of the 425 million diabetics in the world, as many as 65% are Asians, which is quite alarming," the IDF president remarked, adding that diabetes was getting out of control and it was causing more deaths across the world than malaria, AIDS and many other diseases combined. "Around five million people are dying due to diabetes annually in the world."

Pakistani diabetologist and Honarary IDF President Prof Samad Shera said diabetes prevalence, which was only 11% in Pakistan in 1994, had increased to 26% in 2017 while the number of prediabetics had also increased tremendously. He added that the statistics showed that Pakistan was also affected by the diabetes epidemic that had gripped the world.

"Joint efforts are required to deal with this epidemic of diabetes in Pakistan," Prof Shera said. He advised people to walk more and eat less to prevent diabetes. According to him, diabetes was spreading equally in rural and urban areas of Pakistan, which proved that sedentary lifestyle had rooted in the entire country.

The diabetologist advised diabetics who wanted to fast during Ramazan to rise 30 to 40 minutes before sehri and walk before eating as it would help control their blood sugar.

IDF Middle East and North Africa Region Chairperson Prof Abdul Basit stressed the need for educating diabetic Muslims regarding precautions they needed to take before fasting in Ramazan. He lamented that there were no data-based scientific guidelines available for fasting Muslims.



"As many as 148 million Muslims are diabetics as per very conservative estimates and a majority of these Muslims would be fasting in the coming month of Ramazan. We need scientific guidelines for these diabetics so that they could safely observe fasting," he maintained.

Chairperson of the conference Prof Yakoob Ahmedani said the purpose of holding the conference was to prepare scientific guidelines and recommendations for over 148 million Muslim diabetics who wanted to fast in Ramazan. "We need to educate diabetic Muslims about schedule of exercise, diet and dose of medicines. We also need to train and educate doctors [regarding] what to [advise] their patients who would be fasting during Ramazan," he said.

Prof Ahmedani hoped that Muslim diabetologists from Malaysia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Pakistan would come up with scientific data and recommendations for over 1.7 billlion Muslims in this regard.

South African diabetologist Prof Mohammed AK Omer also blamed western diet and carbonated drinks for spreading diabetes. Prof Adel alSayed from Egypt also spoke at the event.