Dr. Inas Shaltout, president of the Arab Society for the Study of Diabetes, said there are 7.5 million patients of diabetes in Egypt of which 4.5 million do not know they are diabetic.
She added that Egypt is the eighth largest country in the world in terms of diabetes. “The diet of Egyptians is bad,” she said. “They eat a lot of carbohydrates and meat, but hardly any vegetables.”
She said that 80 percent of diabetics in Egypt suffer from obesity as a result of poor dietary practices and lack of exercise, warning against diabetics to not undergo operations in order to reduce their weight. “Such operations are dangerous for them,” she said.
Dr. Omar al-Saadani of Kasr El-Aini Hospital said a new second generation insulin drug was released recently. “It is taken once at any time of the day and it controls blood sugar levels for 42 hours,” he said. “It reduces hypoglycemic attacks by 69 percent.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
