Med fate sealed in babyhood: How people get high BP, diabetes in 20s | Goa News

Panaji: With lifestyle diseases affecting the younger population like never before, doctors are emphasising the need to change the way people eat and move — and the choices they make for their babies.
“Narrowing of the arteries due to the cholesterol build-up begins right from childhood, and that is why it is important to inculcate a good lifestyle with a healthy diet and an exercise regimen from the beginning,” said Dr Eddie D’Mello, a senior physician who recently retired from South Goa District Hospital. D’Mello added, “We don’t want to see a future generation that is sicker.”
Unhealthy diets, a sedentary lifestyle, stress, and disturbed sleep patterns due to excessive screen time are among the factors that are causing high blood pressure in people in their 20s and diabetes in people in their 30s.
“This was unseen earlier, but today 40-50% of the patients seen at the OPD level are diabetic and hypertensive,” D’Mello said.
The early onset of cancers is also a worrying trend. The head of the department of medical oncology at GMC, Dr Anupama Borkar, told TOI that an early start to a balanced diet and physical activity can ensure that a person’s body is healthy by the time they hit 40.
“We have seen people abusing their bodies with a bad diet, a lack of exercise, and the use of tobacco and alcohol. By the time they are 40-50 years old, the damage has already been done, and it is not possible to reverse this,” she said. Getting rid of the tobacco and alcohol habit, to which many get hooked at a young age, is also key to living a healthier life, she said.
As for diet, traditional regional and seasonal foods are recommended, because they are neither processed nor preserved, Borkar said, giving the examples of the South Indian idli, sambar, or chutney dish; or Goa’s fish curry and rice; or chapati, daal, and vegetables combinations.
“These traditional regional and seasonal foods are balanced meals and must be consumed at least six days a week. Basically, eat what your grandparents used to eat,” she said.
She advised people to exercise regularly and turn to yoga for mental and physical health and well-being.
The consumption of processed food and an exercise-free life have resulted in a Class VIII student weighing 85kg. “Her diet consisted entirely of frozen foods, which she sourced from her family store,” said a senior paediatrician and former director of health services, Dr Ira Almeida.
“She would leave home for school after drinking one glass of milk and wanted only chicken nuggets and similar frozen foods in her tiffin,” Almeida said. “After school, she would make herself lunch, which was another of these snacks, and then sit at tuitions from 3pm to 6pm.”
She added, “When she returned tired after tuitions, she would make herself yet another unhealthy snack, and after homework, she was done for the day. Where has she moved in the entire day?”
Another case was that of a Class IV student weighing 54kg who had acanthosis nigricans — the darkening of the neck — a prediabetic sign, and had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). “The family earlier lived in a slum and then moved up and bought a flat. Her father said she has no playmates at their new locality and watches TV in the flat the entire day,” Almeida told TOI. “If she doesn’t begin exercising and changing her diet, she is likely to get diabetes and hypertension by the time she is 25.”
The ideal start for a baby would be exclusive breast milk for the first six months, which can continue till two years and beyond, doctors said. Breastfeeding helps in delaying the appearance of lifestyle diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and cancer both in the mother and in the child, as opposed to formula food, Almeida said.
Doctors stress the need for home-based feed when weaning a child, which is healthier and cheaper.
In children’s tiffins, doctors have advised healthy home-cooked snacks. “You must build up good nutrition right from the beginning with a significant protein content — eggs, daal, and sprouted moong with lots of vegetables and fruits,” D’Mello said. “Otherwise, junk food just gives empty calories with no nutrition.”
D’Mello suggested early testing and checking for high BP, diabetes, and cancer.
If diabetes is well controlled and risk factors are taken care of, even a diabetic can enjoy a good quality of life. If neglected, it can lead to eye, kidney, and nerve damage.
GMC records breast cancer in women in their 30s and some even in their late 20s. The reasons are multifactorial — environment, lifestyle, diet, obesity, oral contraceptive pills, late pregnancy, no breastfeeding, and late marriages.
“Often, women come to us saying they noticed a lump in their breast eight months earlier. There is so much denial, or some don’t know who to tell or are ashamed, or don’t know where to have it checked,” Borkar said. “The painless lumps are the ones one should be worried about. The painful ones will be due to some infection or trauma and will go away, but the painless lumps should cause worry.”