JOIN USThe emergence of marginal dysfunction or alteration in any part of the blood sugar system, but not to the extent of elevating sugar level above normal, is predisposition to diabetes. It is an unmanifested state of diabetes which passes down from one generation to the other but whenever a critical point is reached due to an abuse, it transforms into full-blown diabetes.
Dr Denham Horman proposed a theory that excess of free radicals in humans leads to a lethal process called oxidative stress (OS), which causes dysfunction or alteration in any biological entity. The Journal of Epigenetics writes, “pre-diabetics have altered mitochondrial DNA”. Alteration of mitochondrial DNA in the absence of any other perceptible cause points to OS as the cause.
Modern factors like tans-fats, refined and processed food, adulteration, pollution, insecti-
cides, pesticides, cosmetics, swe-
etening, flavouring agents, carbonaceous drinks, phthalates (plastics), electromagnetic waves of cell phones, nuclear and increased UV radiation, etc, are all ruled out as causes of OS.
The non-perceptible, prolonged emotional pressure called in medical literature as ‘stress paradox’ (SP), though its cause is as yet unknown, is capable of causing OS. Therefore, the alteration in mitochondrial DNA is due to oxidative stress, in turn caused by the stress paradox. Thus, predisposition to diabetes perhaps occurred in our pre-historic ancestors.
Stress Paradox presupposes the existence in humans of the intelligence faculty, which began to evolve around 10,000 BC, followed by the emergence of agricultural cultivation and settled life. Humans’ shift from foraging for food to cultivation resulted in loss of bone density and reduction of muscle mass as a consequence of OS.
The first mention of diabetes in India was in 3000 BC. Records of interactions between Alexander the Great and dwellers on the banks of river Jhelum (323 BC) show their diligence in keeping diabetes at bay.
Their diet of wild, self-grown, fresh, seasonal produce of stems, stalks, leaves, fruit rich with vitamins, minerals and bioflavonoid anti-oxidants of berries negated oxidative stress. Their fibre-rich food made it un-
inviting. The outcome was lesser consumption, slower digestion and absorption and satiety for a longer period, thereby checking blood sugar elevation.
A diet of roots, stems in tuber form such as potato, sweet potato, beetroot and the like, being poor in fibre, is quickly and completely absorbed, thus elevating blood sugar. They, therefore, abstained from these. According to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, plant-based diet sans tubers is linked with low incidence of diabetes.
The Jhelum dwellers ate meat of hunted animals, non-poultry birds and fish from primeval water bodies which did not injure health but instead offered positive health on a platter. They liberally used turmeric in their diet. Australian scientists have found that turmeric’s bioactive compound curcumin improves the secretion and function of insulin.
They routinely practiced intermittent fasting, which is receiving scientific endorsement in the management of diabetes today. Their physical exercises were sui generis. They rolled forwards and backwards, and stood as long as they could on tiptoe. These lowered elevated blood sugar and improved blood flow in the legs.
Running, jumping, swimming, climbing and weight-bearing activities which increase muscle mass were survival imperatives, and when done in a green environment, rather than indoors, had more salutary effects on the reduction of blood sugar. They used to take a hundred short steps after each meal. A study by the University of Otego, New Zealand, found that a short walk after a meal lowers blood sugar.
Prayer, meditation, yoga, the concept of god, worship and spirituality — each of these offer solace to the soul seared by stress — began to dawn on the Indian horizon. Fred Travis, a Dutch scholar, says that reading Bhagavad Gita has a similar effect to doing meditation. Michael Inzlicit and Allexa Tullet of the University of Toronto have found through the brain wave technique that thinking of god reduces SP.
Today, we are wallowing in a mire of factors causing oxidative stress, along with sloth and torpor, plummeting spirituality and fetish for foreign-flavoured, flamboyantly-flaunted “Frankenstein’s food”, rich in trans-fats. Each of these is capable of not only precipitating but also of perpetuating diabetes. Indians can keep predisposition to diabetes at bay by unlearning what they have learnt in the post-Independence period.
(The writer is a Belagavi-based doctor)