Mumbai: City-based diabetologists plan to urge the state government to introduce 'Nutrition' as a subject for school children. The proposal is aimed at increasing awareness about nutritional food and comes against the backdrop of the increasing incidence of Type 1 autoimmune diabetes among teenagers and adolescents.
The rise in diabetes cases in India can be attributed to 'changing lifestyles, erratic working hours, sedentary habits, stress, pollution, change in food habits and easy availability of fast food,' according to doctors.
"There is an urgent need to create awareness about nutritional food. The Maharashtra task force on non-communicable diseases is in constant touch with the government with regards to coming up with measures to control the rising cases of pre-diabetes and diabetes in teenagers and adolescents," said Dr. Rajiv Kovil, diabetologist, and co-organising secretary, RSSDI 2023 – which was held at Jio Convention Centre in Mumbai. The task force is also working on a proposal for introducing nutrition as a subject for schoolchildren, Dr. Kovil said.
"Nowadays, teenagers and adolescents have unhealthy lifestyles and have stopped outdoor activities. They have no knowledge about nutritive foods. Moreover, junk food and lack of physical activity have led to obesity, which further led to increasing cases of pre-diabetes and diabetes. Introducing nutrition as a subject will provide knowledge about various nutritional foods and their effectiveness for human health and through it, we will be able to curb cases in teenagers," said Dr.Kovil.
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Dr. Kovil Speaks On Non-Nutritive Sweetners
Dr. Kovil also spoke about the myths around non-nutritive sweeteners: One of the myths was around NNS causing cancer, where Dr. Kovil highlighted that USFDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) reports these sweeteners as safe for human consumption. Various other studies conducted, strongly suggested that NNS are not associated with cancer and can be consumed without any fear.
Refined sugars have adverse effects on health leading to a low-quality diet, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. However, non-nutritive sweeteners lead to effective weight management as the intake of sugar-containing foods is sufficiently reduced resulting in a lower calorie intake. NNS such as stevia and sucralose have received global approval in a vast number of countries.
