T’puram: Diabetes should be viewed not merely as a disorder of blood sugar but as a disease that affects the body’s ability to produce energy at cellular level, according to international experts who are attending at the three-day 14th Annual Global Diabetes Convention at Kovalam.Addressing an online session on ‘The Forgotten Organelle in Type 2 Diabetes’, Dr Hossam Arafa Ghazi, MENA co-chair of the Diabetes Technology Committee at International Diabetes Federation (IDF), said decades of focusing on glucose control alone have not eliminated serious complications such as cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of death among people with Type 2 diabetes.Dr Ghazi explained that Type 2 diabetes is fundamentally a disorder of bioenergetics, with mitochondrial dysfunction impairing the body’s ability to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule that powers cells. He stressed that treatment should focus on restoring cellular energy alongside controlling blood sugar.The three-day convention which began on Friday, organised by Jothydev’s Professional Education Forum under the theme “Helping You Choose the Best in Care,” has brought together leading diabetes specialists, physicians and researchers from India and abroad.
