Diabetes, Hypertension & Metabolic Syndrome

For 60 years since its founding, Kerala took pride as the number one State in the country on life expectancy, receiving praise from world renowned global health expert, professor Hans Rosling. Professor Rosling puts Kerala ahead of Washington D C on Human Health Index at a fraction of per capita income. However, lifestyle diseases like diabetes is now in the order of an epidemic in the state reducing the life expectancy of our adult population above the age group of 30. For the first time Kerala lost out its number one position on life expectancy to Jammu and Kashmir due to an alarming drop in life expectancy after the age of 30 compared to J&K as per 2010-14 census data. Root cause of our problem with diabetes and lifestyle diseases is the rapid increase of starch in our diet over the past 60 years through rice, wheat, and tubers like cassava. Through years

of policy interventions we were able to make starch more affordable but the over correction is now hurting our health than helping it. In order for Kerala to get back and retain our number one position in life expectancy, we have to cut back our starch consumption from half a plate to a quarter and increase consumption of our grossly underutilized green jackfruits. The presentation scientifically explains why one of Kerala’s oldest traditions of eating green jackfruit as a meal is the perfect plate for diabetes and lifestyle diseases. The result states from the first glycemic research conducted on green jackfruit at Sydney University, first randomized control trial on green jackfruit meal showing reduction in HbA1c and finally shows new empirical evidence on a dramatic drop in diabetes medicine sales in Kerala during the first jackfruit season after it was elevated as the State’s official fruit.