n Malaysia, one in every five adults above 18 has diabetes, a staggering statistic experts predict will increase yearly. What’s more insidious about this disease is that one in every two Malaysian adults with diabetes is undiagnosed—at risk of developing conditions such as kidney failure, heart disease, blindness and more if the disease remains untreated. Nearly 80 per cent of adults with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia are overweight, with obesity being a main driver of diabetes. “A lot of people tend to associate diabetes with high blood sugar levels, but it’s so much bigger than that,” says Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur consultant endocrinologist Dr Saiful Kassim, who completed his specialist training in Endocrinology
