For nearly two years, Manoramani has made the three-hour bus journey on the first Sunday of the month to sit on a tiny plastic chair in a crowded hall and wait. Wrapped in a green sari, the portly 41-year-old was diagnosed with diabetes seven years ago. Her health deteriorated until a relative, and fellow diabetic, recommended she went to the Jnana Sanjeevini Medical Center in southern Bangalore, a long way from her small town in a neighboring state. The reason? Supplies of insulin and four other medicines, all free of charge. In recent years, the two-decade-old clinic has seen more and more Indians like Manoramani pass through its doors — patients who reflect the shifting demographics of the disease nationwide. They are younger and poorer. They come from rural areas. And they often have alarmingly minimal health education. At a small table in the clinic, a counselor reminds a diabetic from a nearby village, whose sugar levels remain persistently high, that she should eat more fresh fruit and vegetables. "We repeat the same thing every month," says Vidula Krishnaswamy, a volunteer. "They're not used to taking care of themselves." (MORE: How India Fought Polio — and Won) While people in some parts of India continue to battle malnutrition, many residents in the wealthier states have, during the past two decades of the nation's boom, faced a menace of excess. Rising incomes paired with sedentary lifestyles and starchy, sugary diets have helped diabetes spread furiously. For years, most Indian diabetics fit one profile: urban, educated, with a cozy office job. Now that's changing. More and more, Indians in lower income brackets, often living in rural areas, are being diagnosed with the disease. With their incomes rising and job opportunities broadening, Indians have been performing less manual labor and have been turning more readily to Western-style fast foods and sugar-laden drinks that were not available two decades ago. Also, while physical activity has fallen, consumption of polished white rice, a staple food strongly linked to the disease, has remained steady. In 1998,(http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&blog=19871253&post=83826&subd=timeglobalspin&ref=&feed=1)
Via: TIME GlobalSpin