ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: Nearly 9 million people in Pakistan are diabetic with causes not fully known. The disease is so common today that the professionals refer it to as an epidemic.

This was stated by Dr M. Tayyab Badsha while delivering a lecture on "Diabetes" at the Shifa International Hospital here.

Dr Tayyab Badsha told the participants that diabetes was developing gradually. He said the disease could take as long as ten years before people find out they had diabetes. The disease is common in people over 40 years of age, he added.

Diabetes is life-long but controllable, self-manageable and constantly changing, he maintained. "Obesity or being overweight is one of the leading causes of the disease in the older generation. People with high blood pressure, stress and injury not properly attended to are also some of the other major causes. Nearly 80 per cent people, who are overweight, are more prone to the disease. Insulin effectiveness lowers in overweight and physically inactive people."

However, he added, diabetes doesn't always come from being too heavy nor eating too much sugar.

Landing in Pakistan not very long ago, Dr Tayyab revealed that it was shocking to find that diabetes was common in the younger generation here. Unlike the United States, where he had been practising medicine before, Dr Badsha said he had examined more young diabetic patients in Pakistan than in the USA.

Painting a rather gloomy picture, Dr Tayyab told the participants that 50 per cent children could suffer from diabetes, if both the parents were diabetics. Although there was no cure for the disease, pregnancy could have a positive effect on diabetic women, the doctor said.

"Mothers could permanently or temporarily get rid of the disease after giving birth. But in some mothers there are possibilities that the disease may come back later on in life," said Dr Tayyab.

"Diabetes cannot be taken lightly given its dire consequences. Bleeding in retina and kidney problems, frequent infections, surgical loss of usually foot or leg, heart attack and nerve damage can be caused by diabetes if not controlled," he warned.

"Diabetes affected the nerves. It slowed and even deadened the senses in patients. Diabetics often received foot or leg injuries and never felt pain until the wound developed into something acute," he added.

Dr Tayyab suggested check-ups once a year for people over 40 years of age and for those who were overweight. He said control was imperative.

"Proper diet, exercise and medications was the only way to fight this disease". Free diabetic screening and free educational material on diabetes was also available at the seminar.