Diabetes Patients Association (DPA) has demanded of the government to take preventive measures for controlling the growing number of diabetes patients in the country.
Around one in every ten persons in Pakistan is suffering from diabetes and the number would go up if extreme preventive measures including exercise and change in lifestyles were not taken.
This was disclosed at a diabetes awareness programme arranged by Diabetes Patients Association (DPA) here on Tuesday.
The participants were of the opinion that educating specialists and doctors is as essential as educating the general public. "Doctors should spend more time with their patients and discuss all symptoms no matter how trivial or less apparent they are," they said.
They demanded of the doctors to expand their role to providing moral support as well. Most diabetes patients are overweight and have self-esteem issues, which are often not addressed.
Weight loss is the primary and most essential step for Type II diabetes. A strong link has been found between the level of fat in the body and insulin resistance - the underlying cause of Type II diabetes. As the prospects of weight loss is overwhelming for most people, the doctors were asked to encourage patients rather than scare them.
Doctors said that no effective cure has yet been found for diabetes. The triggering factors have been narrowed down to insulin resistance - a condition when the body fails to recognise insulin and therefore glucose absorption is hampered; or beta cell dysfunction - when the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas are damaged and as a result insulin production is stopped.
Most people with insulin resistance will eventually get beta cell dysfunction because the pancreas goes into overdrive trying to compensate for the elevated sugar levels in the blood, the participants were told.
Currently the only drugs that tackle the main causes of the disease are glitazones (or thiazolidinediones).
These work by making the insulin that's circulating in the blood more efficient, while other drugs focus on reducing glucose absorption or increasing insulin production.
The nation as a whole must bring about a change in their lifestyles and eating habits, the doctors suggested.
They must eat healthier foods with less fat, less salt and less sugar, and they also need to incorporate an exercise routine into their daily lives, they added.
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