Healthy lifestyle may prevent diabetes: experts

[Naveed Yaseen]

Medical experts have said that diabetes can be prevented by changing lifestyle and forming a healthy daily routine. They were speaking at a groundbreaking Diabetes Pubic Awareness Seminar organised by Jinnah - Allama Iqbal Institute of Diabetes and Endochronology (JAIDE) here at Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore, on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, AIMC and Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, principal Prof Javed Akram, discussed in detail the issues concerning diabetes and its complications. He said that diabetes was a hereditary disease.

If once it becomes manifest, it cannot be cured but it certainly can be controlled. For prevention, the key to preventing diabetes lies in making lifestyle changes in early childhood, he said “Children should be encouraged to indulge in physical activity and consume a balance diet. Vegetable and fruit based diet should be encouraged. High calorie drinks & colas should be discouraged,” he advised.

Besides, eminent diabetes specialists and senior consultants of surgery, ophthalmology, nephrology, and neurology and cardio vascular diseases addressed the concerns of diabetes patients in a two-way interactive session. For the first time, “Conversation Maps” were introduced to help patients understand diabetes and its complications better.

Prof Masood Rasheed, Surgeon, Prof Zubair Akram, Cardiologist, Prof Nadeem Hafiz Butt, Ophthalmologist, Dr Hafiz Ijaz, Associate Professor Nephrology, Dr Ali Jawa, Assistant Professor Endocrinology from AIMC/JHL and Dr Imtiaz Hasan, Consultant Diabetologist, Diabetes Institute of Pakistan, Lahore, spoke on the occasion.

Mian Mehboob Iqbal, Chairman, Board of Management, AIMC/JHL, appreciated the efforts of the institution administration and the private sector partners in holding the civic seminar to educate the general public and medical personnel on control of diabetes, which was assuming epidemic proportions. The audience consisted of a large number of patients, medical students, doctors and representatives of the general public. At the end, Mian Mehboob Iqbal presented souvenirs to the participants.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=202975