The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the number of diabetics in India might leap to 80 million from the present 32 million by the year 2030.

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has, however, reported that the number of 50.8 million diabetics in the country now would rise to 87 million in the next 20 years, Tirthankar Chaudhury, a leading consultant in endocrinology, said, quoting recent statistical figures released by IDF and WHO.

“More than 230 million people world-wide are living with the chronic disease and the number is likely to rise to a staggering 350 million within 20 years,” he said on World Diabetes Day on Sunday.

Physical exercise, balanced diet, proper medication and monitoring should be adopted for management of diabetes.

“There are four legs to diabetes management–exercise, healthy diet, medication and monitoring,” Chaudhury said.

“It has become imperative to drive home the point that there is a need to manage diabetes holistically.”

Monitoring sugar levels is very important, especially for patients on insulin as only by monitoring does one know what the current blood sugar levels are so that necessary action can be taken to get the blood glucose levels in the diabetes safe zone, he said.

Quoting a American Diabetes Association recommendation, Chaudhury said diabetes patients should aim to have their pre-meal glucose levels between 70-130 mg/dl and their post-meal glucose levels below 180 mg/dl.