A BITTER SWEET TRUTH

A NEW SURVEY LAYS BARE THE ALARMING STATE OF THE DIABETES BURDEN IN RURAL AND URBAN INDIA. DRIVEN BY LOW PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, UNHEALTHY FOOD HABITS AND LACK OF AWARENESS, IT IS OUR OWN EPIDEMIC TO CONQUER

- SONALI ACHARJEE

When Rajeev Srinivas discovered he had diabetes in 2013, his first thought was, "This isn't so bad. I can survive without sweets." In the past 10 years, the now 52-year-old software engineer from Bengaluru says diabetes has impacted his life far beyond sweets. "I have vision problems, which means I cannot drive after nightfall. There are also early signs of kidney and heart troubles," he says. Even though Srinivas, who has Type 2 diabetes, is on medication, there have been times when he has cheated on the 'no added sugar' mandate. "Even the occasional spoon of sugar in my tea is too much for my body," he says. The inability to process sudden spikes of sugar has been slowly poisoning his system. There are millions like Srinivas in India, and their numbers are accelerating at an unprecedented pace.

India has the highest number of diabetics in the world. In 2020, the International Diabetes Federation estimated around 77 million Indians to have the disease. That figure has risen by nearly 30 million in just three years. A July 2023 study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and the Union Health Ministry found that 101 million people are living with diabetes; another 136 million people are in pre-diabetes stages (research suggests nearly half of them may have diabetes in the next five years). This means almost a sixth of our population is either diabetic or teetering on its brink. The 12-year-long study, the largest of its kind, used a representative sample of over 113,000 people across 31 states and Union territories. "Diabetes is a growing problem," says Dr Sunil Kumar Mishra, who is with the endocrinology department at Medanta- The Medicity, Gurugram. "The issue should be taken very seriously."