cience

Diabetes Unit

Head of Department:Dr. Chittaranjan S Yajnik

India is experiencing a burgeoning epidemic of diabetes and related disorders. It is rated as one of the diabetes capitals of the world because it has a very large number of diabetic patients in any one country, next only to China.

The Diabetes Unit at the KEM Hospital and the KEM Hospital Research Centre is the first dedicated diabetes centre in Western India which started in 1987. We provide comprehensive diabetes care through our Pankuwar Firodiya Daycare Centre, and the Kamalnayan Bajaj Diabetology Research Centre which is specialised to investigate peculiarities of diabetes in Indians. We described the novel finding that the small looking Indians are thin by BMI criteria but fat when you measure body fat. This characteristic of Indians makes them susceptible to diabetes and other related conditions. This characteristic is present at birth (Thin-fat Indian baby), and maternal nutritional and metabolic factors contribute to this. We described that maternal vitamin B12 deficiency and excess folate levels are related to 'fetal programming' of diabetes. This offers a novel approach to reduce fetal programming of diabetes, and a clinical trial is now in progress in the adolescent girls and boys in the villages around Pune. Our research activities fit nicely with the activities of the KEM Hospital Research Centre which was started with the vision of improving the health of the population, especially mother and babies by promoting research and local self-sufficiency.

Contact:

020-66037368

020-26125600 Extn:7368

To Know More: Visit http://www.kemdiabetes.org