KARACHI: Environmental factors in diabetes control
KARACHI, Sept 25: The onset of diabetes mallitas can be controlled by keeping a check on environmental factors, such as obesity, loss of activity, malnutrition and others.
This was stated by scientists and researchers on the second day of the first Bangladesh-Pakistan seminar on National Product Chemistry at the HEJ Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, on Wednesday.
In his presentation on role of plant materials in the management of diabetes, renowned health scientist from Bangladesh Prof Dr A.K. Azad said many countries, such as Finland, had successfully managed to check the rising trend of diabetes. He said diabetes was not a disease but a change of lifestyle and if a person successfully managed to keep normal metabolic levels, he could live a normal life.
He presented results of a successful research conducted by his group on medical plants with anti-diabetes activities, including results of clinical studies. Dr Azad leads a large research group that collaborates with researchers at the Dhaka University and scientists at the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, Karachi.
Prof Anwer Gilani of the Aga Khan University cited instances of modern medicines which have been derived from plants. He presented results of his research on zinger, ispaghul and betel nuts and maintained that medical herbs continued to serve humanity as a source of nontherapeutic agents.
Prof Liaquat Ali, Birdem, Dhaka, in his presentation spoke about nutritional aspects in diabetes and said through their research it was established that chapati prepared from flour was better than rice in diabetic conditions since it helped reduce glycemic index.
Comparing glycemic indexes of different fruits and vegetables, he said the research was directly related to the management of diabetes.
“Unfortunately, Western research on nutritional aspects is often not relevant to our indigenous foods and eating habits”.
Prof Ichiya Ninomiya, a visiting professor at the HEJ Institute, presented key note lecture on the synthesis of a different alkaloids”.
Prof Usman Ghani Khan of the Hamdard University spoke on effects of different medicinal plants in prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
A poster session was also organized in which about 40 junior scientists belonging to the two countries took part.—APP
