The Fight Against Fat

As nations fight against these two ills, there is an increasing realisation that regulations can also help as increased taxes on junk food and sugary drinks can bring down their consumption

- Dr Anoop Misra and Bhavya Arora

The fight against sugar is unending and being fought globally. Recently, Singapore, which has some of the highest diabetic rates, came up with the idea to ban ads of some fizzy drinks and juices so that people would decrease their consumption of sugar. Other countries, such as Mexico and Britain, too have cracked down on ads showing high-calorie food and drinks. In India, regulations have been introduced to stem the march of diabetes, with Kerala introducing a fat tax in 2016 to bring down the high rates of obesity.

The rapid escalation of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and urbanisation in developing countries has forced them to take these stern measures. Ethnic groups like South Asians, other Asians, and Africans develop diabetes a decade earlier and at a lower body mass index than Caucasians. They have prominent abdo minal obesity and have greater acceleration from pre-diabetes to diabetes.

In India, there has been a rapid increase in the rates of obesity and diabetes during the past 15 years. Their prevalence has risen from 5.9 percent to 7.3 percent. Preventive actions still remain undeveloped in most developing countries. The quality of care is largely poor and hence, a substantial number of patients do not achieve treatment goals. To counter these challenges, a renewed political commitment and several lowcost innovative approaches need to be undertaken, including training of nonmedical allied health professionals, and use of technology and telemedicine to deliver simple health messages for prevention and management of T2D.