Ananta Bashir

After being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, many of us think, “My father has diabetes, my uncle has diabetes, my mother has diabetes, all my relatives have diabetes.”
This means, perhaps I inherited diabetes genetically.
If you notice carefully, diabetes in the previous generation started after the age of 40–45. In the generation before that, i.e., in your grandparents’ generation, diabetes started around 55–65 years of age.
If you dig further into earlier generations, you’ll find that people either didn’t understand or didn’t know if diabetes even existed. However, based on American and British health system data, we can understand that before 1960, very few people had Type 2 diabetes.
Therefore, in my opinion, searching for the genetic root of diabetes is a futile thought. Not even 100 years ago—just 50 years ago—less than 1% of people had diabetes.

Now, let’s think about it.
What kind of rice did your grandfather eat? Mostly brown rice, full-fiber. Cars, rickshaws, and tempos were not widely available. They used to walk or ride bicycles.
Your father and uncles also had a similar childhood. If we look closely, they didn’t have access to processed rice before the age of 30. Walking 10–12 kilometers a day was normal for everyone.
Before 1990, electricity hadn’t reached villages. Everyone used to sleep by 7–8 PM. Even in cities, many people slept by 9 PM.
Most families cooked food for two meals only—morning and noon. Leftovers from lunch were generally eaten as dinner after the evening prayer.
Altogether, there was a 12-hour eating period and 12-hour fasting period every day.

After 2000, this calculation changed. People started staying up late and forgot to walk.
After 2010, we entered a new reality—thanks to Wi-Fi and mobile data, many of us now sleep at 3 AM, the first meal of the day is at 9 AM, and the last meal is at 1 AM.

Notice this unnatural lifestyle: it was less common in your grandfather’s generation, more common in your father’s, even more common in yours, and even worse for your children.

Now, compare.
You’ll see that in your grandfather’s generation, diabetes occurred after the age of 60, in your father’s generation after 45, in your generation after 30, and now, many from the next generation are getting diabetes at the age of 15.

We need to make changes.
We must switch back to healthy rice.
We must limit the use of restaurant food delivery services like Foodpanda and Uber Eats.
We must reduce late-night activities.
We must make a habit of walking short distances and aim for longer walks at least twice a week.

Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease. But our carelessness may turn it into a genetic disease at some point.