Diabetes is manageable

Lifestyle diseases, the most notable being diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and stroke continue to take their toll not only on individuals, but the country's economy.

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report released in April, diabetes cases have risen globally. The WHO report says while in 1980 there were 108 million diabetic people worldwide, the number had gone up by 8.5 per cent in 2014 to reach 422 million people.

Last month, the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) also released a report that showed lifestyle diseases in the country were on the increase. Clearly, there is cause for alarm. These diseases are brought about by the way we choose to live; from the food we eat, to what we do after eating.

In 2012, WHO says diabetes claimed 1.5 million lives while heart diseases and related ailments claimed 2.2 million lives. What is perhaps more poignant about the deaths is that 43 per cent occur in productive people below the age of 70 years.

The good news, however, is that we can manage these lifestyle diseases by simply eating healthy food and exercising a lot. Through exercise and healthy food, we can also stop excessive weight gain and forestall an epidemic of lifestyle diseases.