Type II Diabetes: India In Crisis
Last week a report in the AFP explained how the Body Mass Index does not yield accurate information about health risks and bodyweight for Asians; specifically pointing to Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Indians:
The standard way to define obesity uses the body-mass index -- a measure of weight divided by height -- but weight-related ill health appeared in East and South Asians at a lower cut-off point than in Caucasians, they said.This is dangerous because many of these countries are adopting more and more elements of the western lifestyle, i.e. poor nutrition, overeating, and insufficient exercise. A new report in The New York Times explains India is especially hard hit by the sequela of the western diet. N.R. Kleinfield reports:
In its hushed but unrelenting manner, Type 2 diabetes is engulfing India, swallowing up the legs and jewels of those comfortable enough to put on weight in a country better known for famine. Here, juxtaposed alongside the stick-thin poverty, the malaria and the AIDS, the number of diabetics now totals around 35 million, and counting.In a country where health insurance is scarce, Kleinfeild reports some diabetes patients are taking drastic measures:
The future looks only more ominous as India hurtles into the present, modernizing and urbanizing at blinding speed. Even more of its 1.1 billion people seem destined to become heavier and more vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes, a disease of high blood sugar brought on by obesity, inactivity and genes, often culminating in blindness, amputations and heart failure. In 20 years, projections are that there may be a staggering 75 million Indian diabetics.
M.V. Hospital managing director Dr. Ramachandran recounts the case of an impoverished diabetic with a hideously infected leg. Unable to find medical care, he laid the leg across the railroad tracks. The next train to hurtle past did the surgery.Others simply accept disease as part of God’s will:
S. Kalyanasundaram, the chief regional manager in charge at the Chennai office of the National Insurance Company, one of the country’s biggest, explained that the issue with insurance was the odds. “Insurance can only work if the law of averages applies,” he said. “There are too many people with diabetes.”Dr. Fuhrman's prescription for diabetes is explained in detail in a previous post Don't Settle For Diabetes:
Some concepts are easy to sell in India, Mr. Kalyanasundaram said, but health insurance is not one of them. “The capacity to pay is not there,” he said. “And many people take disease as a God-given thing to just accept. So why buy insurance?”
How can diabetics safely lower the high glucose levels that are slowly destroying their bodies? How can they lower their lipids and blood pressure, lose weight, and avoid taking dangerous drugs, such as insulin and sulfonylureas? They need to adopt a diet based on nutritional excellence.
Fortunately, the best diet for good health and longevity is also the best diet for diabetics. It is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio, as carefully described in my book, Eat to Live. When you eat a diet consisting predominantly of nature’s perfect foods—-green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds, and limited amounts of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy to eat as much as you want and still lose your excess weight. In my experience, those who follow my nutritional recommendations find that their diabetes disappears astonishingly fast, even before most of their excess weight melts away.
