Health experts highlighted on Wednesday poor eating habits, particularly the excessive consumption of rice in the form of Biryani and carbonated drinks on almost daily basis, as one of the leading causes of diabetes in Pakistan.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of 'Discovering Diabetes' - a joint venture by the Pakistan Endocrine Society and pharmaceutical company Pharmevo established to set up a helpline for diabetes consultation and share knowledge about the disease - endocrinologist Tasnim Ahsan said Pakistan was facing a "diabetes epidemic".
"Here, millions of adults are now living with diabetes," she raised alarm, adding that type II diabetes, which was an obesity-driven disease, was a global problem now.
She outlined the lack of physical activity, excessive food intake and inter-family marriages as some of the causes of diabetes.
According to Ahsan, over 50 per cent of people who have diabetes don't even know about having developed the condition and the disease is diagnosed when their eyes, kidneys, heart and brain have suffered irreparable damage.
She urged people to benefit from the Discovering Diabetes helpline to know their health status and start taking preventive measures if they were not diabetic.
Diabetologist Professor Zaman Shaikh said diabetes was a "silent killer", which was killing hundreds of thousands of people in Pakistan annually.
"But unfortunately, majority of people are unaware about their disease and consider it an unimportant health issue," he lamented, adding that "When people come to us after living with diabetes for several years, their vital organs have already faced irreversible damage".
Professor Shaikh said diabetes caused permanent damage to eyes and kidneys, heart attacks and fatal strokes.
Pharmevo managing director Haroon Qasim, who also spoke on the occasion, called for including information about diabetes in school curricula to raise awareness about the disease.
Pointing out that 26 per cent Pakistan had diabetes, without citing the source for this statistic, Qasim said, "Every child should know what they should eat and how to live a healthy life to prevent the contraction of diabetes, blood pressure and other lifestyle diseases."
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2021.
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