JPMC Senior Consultant Physician Dr Arvind Bamanikar says that Brunei currently has a diabetes prevalence rate of about 25 per cent, based on the findings of both the medical centre and the Ministry of Health.
“The worry is that Brunei has a younger population with a high rate of obesity, a risk factor for the development of Type 2 Diabetes,” he said, adding that diabetes is now considered to be an epidemic all over the world.
“This is more the reason to actively campaign, propagate and make more people aware about diabetes so that they understand that diabetes can be prevented and treated very well,” he added.
The senior consultant physician also spoke of how complications from diabetes can include negative effects on various organs including the kidney, heart and brain before explaining that the development of diabetes is a multifactorial occurrence, a combination of the generic material of a person as well as their environment and diet.
“It is an interplay of these three factors but diet and environment is very important because they are modifiable. We cannot modify genes at the moment but now we can change our diets and lifestyle,” he said.
“What I mean by diet is that a low sugar and low calorie intake is a must. This is a habit that should be in your life. Another thing is sedentary life, inactivity, which promotes accumulation of sugar and not expending it,” added Dr Bamanikar, who quoted a study which demonstrated that such a change in lifestyle can reduce the development of diabetes by as much as 58 per cent.
The JPMC will provide free glucose screening from Monday through Thursday, starting next week until the end of the month, from 8.30am to 9.30am.
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