The amount of type II, or adult-onset diabetes in Indian cities is high, and rising, suggests health data. India has a population of more than a billion, and its citizens appear prone to developing diabetes later in life, and are certainly more vulnerable to its complications such as high blood pressure leading to coronary heart disease. Part of the blame falls on the adoption of a more Western lifestyle, involving fatty food and too little exercise.
Obesity is a known risk factor for the development of diabetes.
Epidemiological data shows that now only the prevalence of type II diabetes is very high in the urban population, but it is also increasing. Another worry confronting the Indian health authorities is the relatively young age at which diabetes is being diagnosed in many patients. A study of complications in more than 3000 diabetics by the Diabetes Research Centre in Chennai showed that many had suffered eye, nerve or other tissue damage by the time diagnosis was made. Other experts say that more efficient food production says that many Indians are at present better nourished than at any point in the last century. Diabetes occurs when the body can no longer produce enough of the hormone insulin to properly regulate the levels of sugar in the bloodstream.