Diabetes biggest killer in India, numbers rising alarmingly

[Northerner]

India will have more than 100 million people in next 17 years who are likely to have diabetes, currently the largest cause of deaths in the country.

According to a data released here today during a National Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) meet, the country witnessed a 12 per cent increase in the number of diabetes cases to 61 million in 2012 as against 50.8 million in the previous year.

In 2012, diabetes caused 9.83 lakh death in the country, the largest contributor to mortality, according to official data .

"We need multi-sectoral collaborative efforts to address the present and future challenges posed by NCD's in the country and every sector needs to share personal responsibility," Sayeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission, said at the summit.

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...numbers-rising-alarmingly-113060700872_1.html

(lakh = 100,000)

 

[Vicsetter]

It would be interesting to know if there are any regional variations in the statistics as India has a very varied regional variation in diet. But given that rice and wheat flour and ghee or coconut oil are fairly basic ingredients, it doesn't surprise me. I also thought that asians had a genetic bias towards diabetes as well. A large proportion of the population are also vegetarian, so that doesn't seem to help.

 

[LeeLee]

There was an interesting documentary some time ago about India's 'thin fat' people, who appear to be thin or even underweight but have a high proportion of body fat and risk of associated diseases including diabetes. There is something that's not exclusively diet/lifestyle related going on.