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Study: Increasing Protein and Dairy Intake Reduce Burden of Diabetes

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 08:29:01 +0000

Increasing protein and dairy intake may help reduce burden of diabetes: A study

Diabetes – increase in blood glucose levels – is an emerging health problem, especially in developing countries. According to the World Health Organisation, India had 69 million diabetic individuals in 2015 and the number is projected to go up to 98 million by 2030. The problem is more serious for Asians as their genetic make-up puts them at a greater risk of diabetes at a younger age than their European counterparts.

If left untreated, diabetes can intensify to serious health conditions like blindness, kidney failure, heart problems, etc. Apart from genetic factors, the occurrence of diabetes is related to food preferences and lifestyles. Therefore, understanding the link between the consumption of various foods and the prevalence of diabetes in different states can help in devising effective strategies to address the problem.

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A new study has linked the food preferences of individuals to the prevalence of diabetes in various states of India. The study has found that eating calorie-rich food like sugar and honey increases the risk of diabetes while the addition of protein-rich food and dairy products in a meal can help reduce the risk of diabetes.

The study is based on data from the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015– 2016), 2011 census, data on per capita crop production, and consumption figures of different food groups from the 68th round of the National Sample Survey. It evaluated trends of food availability and preferences in various states with diabetes numbers.

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It was found that diabetes was more common in states like West Bengal and Kerala where people consume more non-vegetarian food than the one where the diet is predominantly vegetarian. This is because a vegetarian diet helps in diabetes management by making the body sensitive to the insulin hormone.

Researchers also noted that there were more diabetics in the states where people consumed more sugar and honey though this trend was not valid in the case of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Haryana. The study also found that eating protein-rich food such as pulses and nuts decreased the chances of diabetes. Similarly, states, where people ate more dairy products, had a low prevalence of diabetes.

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Diabetes, often dubbed as a lifestyle disorder, was also found to be high in urban districts than in rural areas. This is so because people in cities tend to be less physically active. This makes urbanization an important factor for the growing number of diabetics in the country. Also, diabetes was found to be more common in males than females as has been indicated in the earlier studies.

‘Our study has identified hotspot districts having a high prevalence of diabetes and recommended them to be targeted in public health programs,’ said Dr. Preeti Dhillon, author of the study and Assistant Professor at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. The analysis showed that 6.9% of adults in India between the age of 15-49 years have diabetes. Among the states and union territories, diabetes is highly prevalent in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while the least in Rajasthan. The prevalence of disease was found to be more in districts that are close to the coastal areas. ‘The high prevalence of diabetes in Andamans and Lakshadweep is of interest as this has not been reported earlier and it would be worthwhile exploring whether any genetic or environmental factors contribute to this,’ commented Dr. V Mohan, Director, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. Though he was not associated with the study.

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Dr. Anoop Misra, Vice President, Diabetes Foundation (India), commented that while this study provided new information about dietary context and prevalence of diabetes, it must be understood that diabetes is a multifactorial disease. Genetics, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and other lifestyle factors should be taken into consideration before establishing conclusive links. Food intake is a continuously changing and dynamic process and cannot be completely captured in a cross-sectional snapshot. He agreed, however, that high protein intake is needed for Indians as it boosts glucose metabolism in muscles reducing incidences of diabetes. The research team at IIPS included Koustav Ghosh and Gopal Agrawal apart from Dr. Dhillon. The results of this study have been published in the Journal of Public Health.

Credits: India Science Wire

The post Study: Increasing Protein and Dairy Intake Reduce Burden of Diabetes appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

Digital Diabetes Management Market

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 11:14:48 +0000

Diabetes is one of the worst nightmares that is spreading like a wildfire in all the regions of the world. According to the International Diabetes Federation, almost one in every ten people suffer from diabetes and the number is expected to increase further,if proper measures are not taken. The hectic lifestyles and changing food habits of people across the globe make them more vulnerable to this epidemic. For a long period of time, oral drugs, blood glucose monitoring devices, insulin pumps, and others are supporting diabetic people to control their blood sugar levels. However, the advent of new technologies has taken this to an all new level.

The rapid adoption of technology in healthcare also touched the area of diabetes care management; digitizing the available methods to provide more comfort and simplicity to the affected people. The sudden wave of smartphones had a great impact on the digital diabetes care as it brings forth several smart apps that help the consumers to track their blood glucose levels, diet and physical activities, sleep pattern, and so on at their fingertips. More innovations are being carried out to provide more compact and efficient solutions to diabetic people, especially the geriatric population in remote areas of the world.

The Global Digital Diabetes Management Market is is expected to cross around USD 20 billion by the end of 2024, registering a CAGR value of 24% during 2019 to 2025; as per the research report published by Research Cosmos.The growing adoption of technology and increasing acceptance of smart applications by consumers along with the extensive spread of diabetes in all the demographics, people are expected to drive the demand for digital diabetic solutions. The major benefit of these solutions is that they can be availed within the comfort of home, without any hospital visits or medical professional support. The portability offered by these digital solutions allows the patients to carry them anywhere without any hassle.

One of the most noteworthy trends in digital diabetes management is the introduction of wearable devices. These devices can be worn on the body with much ease and are capable to provide round the clock assistance to the consumer, along with the maintenance of style quotient. The advantage of these wearable could be continuous monitoring of the blood glucose levels of the person, providing required amounts of insulin to body without any external assistance, sharing patient condition to respective healthcare provider or doctor, providing regular alerts about health status, offering suggestions to improve health and so on and so forth.

The increasing acceptance for digital diabetes management has pushed many manufacturers in healthcare to concentrate more on the development of innovative solutions to grab the major chunk of the world profits. Several acquisitions, mergers, collaborations and new product launches have become the important strategy of many leading players to improve their market holdings. One such popular event in the recent years is the partnership of digital diabetes platform provider GlucoMe with the leading German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA to offer the digital diabetes platform services to various hospitals in Vietnam, which has one of the fastest growing diabetic cases in the Asia-Pacific.

The major challenge these digital solutions face is to reach the rural population in many developing regions of the world. The lack of awareness about the availability of these features due to the improper publicity and initiatives from the government can be a stronghold for this market. Additionally, the high costs of smart devices and unstructured regularization of the products, which can lead to the availability of counterfeit products that are harmful to the body could act as limiting factors for the rapid adoption of the digital diabetes solutions among the global population.

However, the future looks more promising for the digital care in diabetes with the augmenting innovations in the technology such as data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies will further intensify the services offered currently at more affordable prices. In particular, AI will play a prominent role in the increasing efficiency and care of these solutions. Similarly, the added style factor in wearable devices by several manufactures around the world will further create huge demand for digital diabetic solutions. Furthermore, the growing elderly population of the world, who prefer home healthcare will become the lucrative segment of end-users for these devices; pulling the market players to focus more on this section.

Globally, North America has been the demanding region with the significant market share in digital diabetes management market. The contribution from the developed nations of this region like the USA, Canada and Mexico has been tremendous in the recent years. The increasing cases of diabetes, rapid adoption of advanced technologies in medical care, sophisticated healthcare infrastructure, mounting number of geriatric populations, awareness about the benefits of these devices among the population and the favourable government reimbursements have been the driving factors for the growing demand of digital diabetes management in the North American nations.

Some of the prominent names in the global digital diabetes management market are Abbott Laboratories, Merck KGaA, Roche Diagnostics, AgaMatrix, Glooko Inc, Tandem Diabetes Care, Medtronic, Dexcom, Lifescan, DarioHealth, Tidepool, Insulet Corporation, B. Braun, Ascensia Diabetes Care, and others. All these players are investing in their R&D activities to implement and introduce more innovative solutions in the world digital diabetes management market.

About the author:

Kevin Stewart is currently working with Research Cosmos as Market Research Manager; a firm that does Global Market Intelligence.

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