KARACHI: Teenagers as young as 13 to 15 years have now started developing type 2 diabetes in Pakistan, experts claimed on Monday and advised people to revert to active lifestyle by staying away from screens, resort to 40-50 minutes daily exercise and eat healthy and balanced diet to avoid getting the chronic illness.
“We are extremely depressed to see teenagers as young as 13 to 15 years of age developing Type 2 diabetes in Pakistan. Girls are more prone to develop type 2 diabetes as compared to boys in Pakistan but we are seeing an increasing number of teenagers coming up with Type 2 diabetes in the country”, Dr Nadeem Naeem told a news briefing following a diabetes screening camp at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Monday.
The diabetes screening camp was organized by the Ehad Medical Center in collaboration with ‘Discovering Diabetes’ project at Karachi Press Club (KPC) where KPC members, employees and their family members were screened diabetes, blood pressure, uric acid, body mass index, bone mass density and cholesterol. Consultant physicians were also present to offer consultation to the patients and pre-diabetics.
Diabetologist Dr. Nadeem Naeem said Pakistan is currently facing an epidemic of diabetes, where over 20 to 25 adults were living with diabetes but warned that due to sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits, youngsters and teenagers were also developing diabetes these days in the country, which is an extremely alarming situation.
“Earlier we used to see people developing diabetes in 40s, then in 30s but it is now very common in 20s and even among teenagers. This situation can lead to serious repercussions for the Pakistani nation”, Dr Nadeem said and added that people would have to rethink about their priorities and come up with a strategy to save themselves and their children from this chronic, lifestyle illness.
Speaking about fasting in Ramzan, he said fasting is extremely good for overweight people, pre-diabetics and those who have recently been diagnosed with diabetes and added that people with moderate and severe diabetes should consult their physicians prior to start of holy month of Ramzan so that their medicines and diet could be adjusted in accordance with their health conditions.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.