In order to highlight the role of indigenous methods for prevention of diabetes, Research Society for Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI), an association of Diabetologists, is planning to enroll over 700 border line diabetics from across the country as a part of the three-year national multi-centric study. The study has already enrolled around 700 participants for the trial from across the country.

There is a plan to enroll a total of 1500 diabetics in the country for the study which has a set of well-defined protocols for screening the candidates. Pune-based Chellaram Diabetes Institute (CDI) is the latest in the series of institutes to join hands with RSSDI for participating in the study. Chellaram Trust, the parent body of CDI, alone has contributed Rs.1.3 crore for the estimated Rs.2 crore study scheduled to be completed in three years time.

"We plan to recruit 700 more border line diabetics in the coming six months time in order to help produce good data for the study in a comprehensive manner. Five more institutions of national repute would also tie up with the RSSDI to take forward the study to its conclusive end," informs Dr H B Chandalia, Diabetologist at Diabetes Endocrine Nutrition Management and Research Centre (DENMARC), Mumbai.

The study would select 300 participants between 20 and 70 years of age in each of the five centre on the basis of recruitment process from amongst the borderline diabetics.

The study holds a lot of relevance for a country like India where prevention of Diabetes through alternative systems of medicine is the need of the hour and has been taken up for the first time. Diabetes poses a huge disease and economic burden manifesting into many irreversible diseased conditions and lifestyle diseases.

Speaking about the study, Dr Chandalia explains, “Study will involve a conventional diet, exercise, yoga and consumption of 10 to 15 gms of fenugreek (methi) powder. There will be no medication involved in the study. Study will entail constant monitoring of diet regimen of the candidates with periodic tests every three months for three years. This will help us determine the rate of conversion from borderline diabetics to diabetics and hence its prevention.”

Approved by ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the US National Institutes of Health which provides database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants globally, the study is currently being conducted at five diabetes centres in the country namely University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi under Dr Madhu SV; Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry under Dr A K Das; Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad under Dr PV Rao; Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Care, Bengaluru under Prof KM Prasanna Kumar; and Diabetes Endocrine Nutrition Management and Research Centre (DENMARC), Mumbai under Dr Hemraj Chandalia.