Chennai: A study titled, ‘Making India Heartstrong Survey’, is a two-part research comprising questionnaire-based interviews and HbA1c (Average Glucose level) and Lipid profile Tests, was conducted to understand perception of people towards heart health versus actual numbers of people at heart risk.
Certain parameters like HDL and Triglycerides were also measured as they play a key role in defining Indians’ health due to their staple food habits and food choices.
The responses from 600 individuals from six cities across four states (Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh)were recorded to evaluate Indians’ awareness levels around CVD risk assessment and relationship between their work/lifestyle, habits.
Thirty eight percent of Indians who believe they are healthy have been found suffering from diabetes, reveals the study. While another 28 percent healthy individualhave been diagnosed with pre-diabetics based on their HbA1c levels. Hence, two third are either having CVD risk or risk prone.
In addition, 50 percent Indians are unaware that diabetes and Obesity are the most closely associated risk factors with heart diseases. A whopping 88 per cent do not know that high cholesterol may leadto heart disease.
Surprisingly, Mumbai even being a top metro city ranks lowest (14 per cent) in terms of awareness towards the association between diabetes and heart diseases. On the contrary, Hyderabad (45 per cent) followed by Vijaywada (43 per cent) appears to be most aware. The survey shows that only a small fraction of Indians (10 per cent) knows that hardening of arteries fell under the umbrella of heart diseases.
“It is unfortunate that in a country where diabetes is on the verge of becoming an epidemic, people are still ignorant about the implications of diabetes. It is important to understand that diabetes has no cure. But it can be managed or kept in check with a right combination of healthy foods and regular physical activity. And, remember it’s going to be a lifetime regimen. So, just make it a habit and watch out for aggravating symptoms,” says Dr Anand Moses, diabetologist, Chennai.
Meanwhile, in a pair of papers recently published in Cell Metabolism, scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and their colleagues point to an overlooked enzyme known as pyruvate kinase as the primary way pancreatic beta cells sense sugar levels and release the appropriate amount of insulin.
After conducting proof-of-concept experiments on rodents and on human pancreatic cells, the team found that drugs stimulating pyruvate kinase not only increase the secretion of insulin but have other metabolically protective effects in the liver, muscle and red blood cells. The findings suggest that activating pyruvate kinase could be a new way to increase insulin secretion to counter Type 2 diabetes, but more research would be required before any new treatments were available.