Kolkata to walk for diabetes on Sunday

Kolkata : Over 4,000 people participated in the event last year and this year organisers say more are expected to turn up at the Kolkata Walkathon 2010 — an event held to promote diabetes awareness.

Despite China taking over India in terms of the number diabetics, with over 50 million suffering from the predicament, Nov. 14 World Diabetes Day brings a blunt reality check for the country.

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that one in 8 Indian adults either has or is at high-risk of diabetes.

For one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the World Health Organization estimates that diabetes and cardiovascular disease costs the Indian economy of USD 23 billion each year in lost national income.

The list of scary statistics goes on, but the harsh truth remains that there is no cure for diabetes. And Indians, with their South Asian ethnicity are predisposed to diabetes.

This susceptibility is evident from the fact that diabetes today affects Indians at an average age of 42.5 years, 10 years lower than the average age for Europeans diabetics.

Some doctors say the instead of the commonly blamed lifestyle changes, lack of physical activity, obesity, stress and dietary disorder, today diabetes research points towards a much deeper-rooted problem.

Studies have shown that malnutrition during the development of foetus prioritizes sugar for its growing brain throwing off the body?s ability of distributing and controlling glucose levels.

When later in the life of the person the malnutrition gives way to prosperity, the body does not shift to the change in the intake of diet.

Considering the millions of Indians who have risen from impoverished backgrounds to comfortable lifestyles, the theory fits perfectly.

The trouble is that for ages diabetes has been blamed upon sedentary lifestyle. The radical studies suggesting the foetal origins of the diabetes might take ages for governments to act upon and take up maternal nutrition as a key diabetes prevention strategy.

And till then, for those at risk there is little choice other than medication, controlled diets and exercise – the standard treatments for the disease.

Since 1991, the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization have observed Nov. 14 as the World Diabetes Day. The campaign sees a new theme every year to address issues facing the global diabetes community.

This year In India, an attempt will be made in New Delhi to form the world’s largest ever human circle on Sunday.

Over 7,000 people are expected to gather at the India Expo Centre in Greater Noida on 14 November to form a blue circle – the universal symbol for diabetes – and try to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Here in the City of the Joy, a bunch of corporate donors and organisations have come together to back the second Kolkata Walkathon, that will start off at 6:30 am from the Victoria Memorial main entrance.

Organised in association with the Kolkata Police, Rotary International, West Bengal Federation of United nations and Round Table India by Event Management Group (EMG), the event will be flagged off by the police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty.

The Walkathon will see participation from some of the bigwigs of Bengal, including industrialist Harshwardhan Neotia, H P Budhia, Tollywood actress Rituparna Sengupta among others.