American experts at Ceylinco Diabetes Centre Seminar warn of dangers of weight gain

The risk of diabetes increases as an individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI) increases, and populations in developing countries that gravitate to western dietary patterns are increasingly at risk due to weight gain, a top American expert said in Colombo recently.

Addressing a seminar organised by the Ceylinco Diabetes Centre, Dr. Barbara Howard, Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University and Chairperson of the American Heart Association’s Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism said persons with a BMI of 30 are 10 times more at risk of becoming diabetic than those with a BMI of 20.

She also disclosed that an adult who gains 11 kilograms in his or her life span is six times more likely to get diabetes than someone who did not gain weight.

There are more than 18 million diabetics in the world today, and about a billion people are categorised as being ‘Obese’ with a Body Mass Index of 30 or more, Dr. Howard said. Worldwide, five percent of deaths are attributable to complications associated with diabetes, and 80 per cent of mortality among diabetics is due to heart disease and stroke, two conditions closely associated with the disease, she said.

“The good news is that there is a lot that can be done to prevent the spread of diabetes or to improve the situation if it develops,” Dr. Howard added, explaining that maintenance and prevention of weight gain, weight loss and a combination of calorie reduction, increased physical activity and behaviour modification could significantly reduce the risk of diabetes.
“Physical activity is as important as what you eat and a 30 minute walk three days a week could be a good start to the battle against weight gain and diabetes,” she stressed.

Dr. James Howard, Endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the Washington Hospital Centre warned that by 2010, there would be 239 million diabetics in the world and diabetes could be the No 1 health problem on the planet.

Describing diabetes as a ‘silent killer,’ he revealed that in the USA, 50 per cent of diabetics already have heart disease by the time their diabetes is diagnosed. However, diabetes could be prevented with good glycaemic control, cessation of smoking, lowering blood pressure, treatment of lipid abnormalities and weight reduction through exercise, Dr. Howard said.

The seminar, the third conducted by the Ceylinco Diabetes Centre this year, was open to the public free of charge.

Established three years ago in affiliation with the Washington Hospital Centre, the Ceylinco Diabetes Centre is a comprehensive private stand-alone facility offering access to medical specialists in many fields of medicine associated with complications arising from diabetes, a disease that afflicts one in seven Sri Lankans, or 14 per cent of the population.

As a highly specialised outpatient clinic for screening, detection and management of diabetes and its complications, the Centre conducts clinics in Diabetology, Cardiology, Ophthalmology, Neurology, Dermatology, Podiatry and Diet and Nutrition and has a specialised wounds clinic. In addition, a specialist Diabetes shop located within the Centre provides diabetics with many of their needs.