Libre Magazine

If you think you have a touch of sugar think again and think fast because the clock is ticking. Before you know it, you could end up becoming one more diabetes related statistic.

The reason I sound so alarming is because I have come across several Desis who are paying a daily price on account of their abnormal sugar levels. It is painful to hear people I know say, “Nothing is wrong with me. I don’t have diabetes. What I have is a touch of sugar, borderline diabetes.”

Often I find myself saying, “You know uncle, you should really be going for a 30 minute brisk walk every day, or at least five times a week. If this is too much, you can break it up to 10 minutes at a time, so long as you get some sort of exercise. If you have aches and pains that make it difficult to walk make sure you get recommendation from your doctor as to what else you should consider in terms of exercise.”

“I will start my walks soon. Need to wear long pants and go out since it can get cold in the early mornings even in Florida. Besides my sugar level is only 126. Borderline. It should be less than 100 no? Here’s Nalini, talk to hear and call us anytime.”

At moments like these, I wish I could tell them, “If you do not take care of yourself starting right now, you are increasing your chances of diabetes related complications such as heart failure, stroke, kidney problems, nervous system diseases, amputations, impotence, blindness, and then some more. Why cause yourself suffering when you can do something your sugar level now rather than later. Later on it might be too late. More than one clinical study has shown that it is possible to prevent or slow down the development of type 2 diabetes. Why not make use of this knowledge? Wouldn’t you wish the same for your children and members of your family?”

It is completely understandable that no one wants to be told that they could end up losing a leg or even their eye sight. But it is important to understand that there is no such thing as a touch of sugar, at least where diabetes is concerned, just as there is no such thing as a touch of pregnancy, you either are or you are not.

Early diagnosis is critical, because as the disease progresses the beta cells within the pancreas are progressively damaged. Usually by the time diabetes is diagnosed, half of the beta cells have ceased making insulin, a hormone needed to convert blood sugar from foods we eat into energy that we can use.

In the early stages of the disease, patients often have no dramatic symptoms hence diabetes is called a “silent killer,” a term we have thus far associated with cardiovascular diseases.

Previously the emphasis used to be only on management of diabetes, but these days attention is also being focused on its prevention because of the astounding costs from every angle associated with the condition.

I have wanted to guide my fellow Desis to web sites for The American Diabetes Association, CDC, and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, as they are helpful in terms of providing some educational material.

But I have refrained, because I can hear them say, “You know, we are not all scientists. We don’t have time for all this. Too much is going on in our lives, but we have faith nothing will happen to us. By the way, when was the last time you prayed?”

It is important to realize that scientific evidence exists for the benefits of early self-management of one’s health. A landmark US National Institutes of Health Study called The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) which enrolled diverse participants, including Asian Americans, showed that development of diabetes can be delayed or even prevented by at least 58% through lifestyle changes which included diet and exercise.

In addition to DPP, results of a study done in India, conducted by the Chennai-based M V Hospital for Diabetes and Diabetes Research Centre (a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Diabetes in India) under the guidance of Dr A. Ramachandran, also showed that lifestyle modification, which included a recommended diet and exercise had a positive impact on reducing the risk of diabetes.
More needs to be done in terms of such studies on Indians in America, as the 2005 American Community Survey shows that Indians represent the second largest Asian population in the United States (19%) and the number will keep growing rapidly as the fertility rates are higher among Indians compared to other Asians. There are close to 2.5 million Indians in America and this number has grown over the last 10 years.

It is easy to think such health problems cannot plague us here, as we now live in the United States. But settling in the United States does not necessarily change age-old beliefs and thought processes. On the contrary some of us tend to hold on to our motherland culture with increased tenacity, whether it does us good or not.

Back home having your own vehicle used to mean you probably never had to set foot on the streets. It meant you had made it. Or at least were on the way to making it even better in terms of finances and prestige.

These days, at least in the suburbs, every one owns a vehicle more out of necessity than prestige. Does it mean we are consuming lesser calories, choosing whole grain products over highly processed carbohydrates, doing away with the age old ghee because now the vehicle is doing all the walking on our behalf? Getting more exercise because we have more time since the vehicles and all the gadgets at home are aiding us in doing our chores?

Most of us know that the higher one climbs the professional ladder, the less time one gets because she or he is now busy maintaining their position. It is well-known that Indians are amongst the most educated and financially well off ethnic community.

But more money does not always equate to better health. With all of this success who has the time to look after their health which is the real wealth?

Due to our psychological stresses and hectic lifestyles we tend to pay less and less attention to what sustains and nourishes us. When we do get time to eat, we reach out for calorie-rich foods that comfort us. At every opportunity we indulge in deep fried goodies and every other type of snack easily available at every corner. After all who can resist a couple of deep-fired spicy samosas or pakoras with hot cilantro-mint chutney after a 12-14 hour work day? And mouth-watering gulab jamuns and rasgoolas? To make matters worse, our genetic predisposition does not help.

The overall numbers associated with the disease are quite startling. According to a 2006 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in three Americans have pre-diabetes and most don’t even realize it. And this is because not everyone is proactive in terms of getting regular blood tests.

One in three children born in the US after 2000 could develop diabetes in their lifetime according to the CDC.

The American Heart Association website sites that about 75% of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood vessel disease.

Dr. Prakash Deedwania from the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine and Dr. Vibhuti Singh from University of South Florida College of Medicine, have reported in the Indian Heart Journal, 2005, that Asian Indians in the US have higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases compared to Caucasians, due to an increase in central obesity, glucose intolerance, hypertension, high triglyceride levels, and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol — the five ‘axes of evil’ of metabolic syndrome. And these are highest among the Indians and continue to increase at a rapid pace.

The development of diabetes is a process; as the pancreas gets more and more affected, because of the abnormal sugar levels, so do the other organs.

It is for this reason high blood sugar numbers should be taken as seriously as high cholesterol or triglyceride levels, if not more. Just because sugar is an ingredient we use and know it makes delicious mithais, halwas, and burfis, does not make it harmless when levels change in our body.
It has been projected by World Health Organization that 366 million individuals in the world would be affected with diabetes by the year 2030. Of these 30 million will be in the US and 79 million in India. According to The Task Force on Diabetes Care in India, the nation has close to 40 million diabetics. It is no wonder that India is now unfortunately called the diabetic capital of the world. According to The Task Force on Diabetes Care in India, by the time diabetes is diagnosed, more than 35-40% of people have diabetes related complications.

It is not surprising that the call for awareness of pre-diabetes is now being heard and read about in several media forms, globally, because it provides opportunity and hope to do something about those high blood glucose numbers.

We have all heard and read before this that the incidences of both diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are the highest in the South Asian community, two- to three-times higher than the native population. Recent studies done by Dr. Sarita Mohanty from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and her colleagues, have reported that Asian Indians, in the US, have a higher prevalence of diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.

Keeping all this in mind, isn’t it time to control those above normal sugar levels?

If you think you have a touch of sugar in your blood think again and think fast because the clock is ticking. Before you know it, you could end up becoming one more diabetes related statistic.