Diabetes Day thoughts

November 14 was World Diabetes Day. Diabetes is overwhelming India. We have the largest number of diabetics in the world, and no one knows why.

Every year, on this day, doctors and pharma companies talk about diabetes in the newspapers, but sadly, their advice isn't really making a difference. You can make out it isn't because the numbers are increasing, and corporate hospitals are opening centres exclusively for diabetics. These centres are actually big hospitals, all set to cash in on the epidemic. Officially, India has 41 million diabetics, and the national prevalence is between 9 and 14 per cent.

As Diabetes Day approaches, marketers invariably find ways to give their products a diabetic spin. Take green tea. It's a good product, and is considered an anti-oxidant (said to put the brakes on ageing), but can it treat diabetes? Every season, we read articles about its benefits for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. It is possible green tea has some peripheral benefits, but to promote it as a panacea for diabetics is surely an irresponsible bit of exaggeration? You will run into hundreds of such products, each claiming to magically help diabetics. Be warned that they all have an eye on the huge diabetic market, and may not help all that much in glucose control, even if they are good for non-diabetic consumers.

I do a bit of reading, mostly on the Net, to keep abreast of what is happening in diabetes research. Over the past year, I have stumbled across some startling reports. Doctors have found, for instance, that diabetes is a neurological problem, and that inflamed nerves in the pancreas could be the cause of diabetes. Just last week, an Australian research student found how insulin helps fat and muscle cells absorb sugar, and his peers say he may have found a missing piece of the diabetes jig-saw puzzle. A gastric procedure is ridding many Type 2 diabetics of their problem, but it isn't yet considered standard treatment. Many of these developments go against what our doctors routinely tell us, but you can't place all the blame at the doctors' doors because they have probably seen hundreds of promising discoveries just fizzling out.

Some researchers now believe doctors should aggressively start controlling blood sugars and prescribe insulin the moment a patient is diagnosed with diabetes. Is insulin better than the pills? A school of thought believes it is, but even doctors who subscribe to this school are prompted by patient reluctance to go with the pills.

The most surprising book I have read in recent years is Dr Bernstein's The Diabetes Solution, which postulates that the only way to deal with diabetes is to go low-carb and combine it with some exercise. This American doctor has his share of critics, most of whom believe that eating too much protein puts pressure on the kidneys. But he has a staunch following, and is a living example of what diabetics can achieve if they follow his methods. (He began his career as an engineer. When he realised his diabetes was killing him, he started experimenting on himself. He finally did an MBBS, and developed a dissident protocol for treating diabetes. He practises in New York).

Diabetes is a boon to the medical trade -- diabetics live for years and years after they are diagnosed, and spend heavily on doctors and medication -- but a nightmare to sufferers. Every now and then, we hear a cure is around the corner, but cynical diabetics believe the vested interests won't let it arrive.