BHUBANESWAR: If you believe traditional foods are always healthy, think twice. A recent study revealed that people living in rural areas are more prone to diabetes due to their unregulated food and behavioral habits. The study by six senior ayurvedic practitioners, including two from Odisha, found that the kinds of food people in villages eat create favourable condition for diabetes. Their research paper titled ‘Survey on Gramya Ahara-vihara in Relation to Madhumeha’ has been published Bulgaria-based World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research (WJPR).
Prof Radhakrishna Bishwal, one of the authors of the study, said gramya ahara-vihar (food and behavioral habits practices in villages) lead to various diseases like diabetes, hyper acidity, hypertension and leprosy. “The number of diabetes patients among rural population is rising due to wrong diet and adoption of modern lifestyle. Irrational foods, practice of having stale and incompatible foods, day sleeping, excess sex, irregular or excess physical activities and regular consumption of alcoholic drinks are the reasons behind the spurt in cases,” pointed out Prof Bishwal, who is Head of PG Department (Shalakya Tantra) of Uttarakhand Ayurveda University.
The study indicated that people in villages generally eat salty, bitter, sour, pungent, dry and alkaline food items besides food prepared from sesame, oil cakes, sprouted and freshly harvested grains and pulses. Sedentary lifestyle and faulty diet have resulted in genesis of many lifestyle disorders like obesity, diabetes mellitus and other metabolic disorders. The food and behavioral habits can be nectar as well as poison. The symptoms like liquefaction of fat which is seen in diabetes occurs due to consumption of unhygienic food. Persons who are accustomed to food comprising of contradicting property, not conducive to homologation, as well as dry, caustic, damp or moistened property, heavy, petrified, stale and people involved in irregular and over eating are prone to diseases, the study stated.
Another author Prof Santanu Das said one common habit that induces unwanted changes in blood sugar levels is eating at irregular hours. Major meals need to be eaten at around the same time to prevent fluctuations in blood sugar levels. It is vital to ensure that the secretion of insulin is kept in check, he said. “People having incompatible foods like chicken or fish and curd together, fruit after meal, milk after eating fish curry and reuse of cooked oil are more prone to diseases. Regular consumption of stale food having carbohydrate disturbs enzymatic secretion and block normal flow of insulin in human body,” said Prof Das, Head Department of Panchkarma, BD Ayurvedic College and Hospital, Farrukhabad.