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AHMEDABAD, INDIA, December 6, 2003: Junk food, obesity and lifestyle diseases are not confined only to hamburger-eating US but have spread to vegetarian Gujarat as well, with a staggering 7.5 million people suffering from diabetes. The statistics are intimidating. Of Gujarat’s 50 million people, 15 percent suffer from diabetes. Of these, 10 percent are in urban areas and five percent in rural areas. And of every 10 patients in towns and cities, four are teenagers. The advent of the fast food culture in Gujarat is seen as the chief culprit. Now thousands of children are bearing the brunt every single day of their lives. Many children are being deprived of their favourite foods and being put on strict exercise regimens to save them from more complicating trouble in the future.



Parag Shah, consultant diabetologist and endocrinologist at the Gujarat Endocrine Centre, said “The fast food culture in Gujarat is leading to increase in diabetes. Parents think their kids are eating high-calorie food in the form of pizza, burgers, bhaji-pav or chips, but it proves to be more dangerous than cigarettes.”



There are some movements happening to arrest the disturbing trend. The Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA), the Gujarat chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) comprising 5,000 physicians, is planning a massive health drive to spread awareness about diabetes. “Only last month we organized a week-long yoga camp in Ahmedabad in which over 5,000 people participated,” said AMA president Yogendra Shah.

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