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Start taking your Diet seriously, say country’s top Gastroenterologists as IBD cases grow exponentially in India.
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India to register highest new cases every year in the world by 2030
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Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals said close to 20 percent of IBD cases are from Pediatric category
IndiGlobal Bureau
Not many are aware about Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), but experts are predicting India will be registering the highest number of new IBD cases every year compared to any other country in the world by 2030 onwards. The country is registering 1.4 million IBD cases every year, second only to the US which detects 1.6 million new cases according to a study done in 2020.
“What looked like a disease of the West 25 years ago is now increasing at an exponential rate in our country and the predominant reason can be attributed to the change that we have taken in our dietary habits,” said Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals said while addressing a press briefing in the hospital auditorium today.
AIG Hospitals, on the eve of World IBD Day, shared some alarming statistics on the rampant increase of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in our country. “The biggest concern is that close to 20% of IBD patients belong to the Pediatric category which not only is hampering their physical growth but taking a toll on their parent’s mental wellbeing. A pan India survey to see how diet is impacting patients suffering from IBD revealed that those who are having processed foods, skipping their meals, and not following the specified diet, are likely to experience continuing symptoms of IBD,” Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy added.
“Currently, it is estimated that over 1.5 million people will be affected by IBD in India each year. Characterized by persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, unintended weight-loss, fatigue and rectal bleeding, diagnosis of IBD is also challenging as the symptoms overlap with many other diseases including TB,” Dr. Rupa Banerjee, Director – IBD Center, AIG Hospitals said.
“The survey was designed in a scientific manner capturing all the requisite data about various kinds of food and ingredients that IBD patients consume across India. Preliminary analysis does indicate that some South-Indian traditional recipes are better suited for the gut and therefore we launched the Gut-friendly Recipe booklet featuring these modified South-Indian recipes,” Dr. Rupa Banerjee continued.
Present at the occasion was Dr. Sesikeran Boindala, former Director, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) who said you are what you eat and death lies in the bowel. “The simplest rule that one can follow is to avoid WHITE colour products, like Maida, Sugar, Salt and choose healthier alternatives such as whole wheat flour, raw cane sugar, etc,” he said.
AIG Hospitals runs India’s largest IBD Patient Support Group and has created the IBD ENC (Emerging Nations’ Consortium) platform for collaboration on IBD research with more than 1000+ medical professionals representing 25+ countries from South East Asia.
Bangladesh has joined the IBD ENC network and today the Bangladesh IBD Support Forum and Patients Support Group (PSG) was launched in AIG Hospitals with renowned Gastroenterologists from Bangladesh Prof G Khibria and Dr M Masudur Rahman joining the event virtually from Dhaka. This forum will benefit the IBD patients from Bangladesh to get the best of medical help from doctors in Bangladesh and India as well.
