Sugar alone doesn't cause diabetes: Indian producers want you to believe

Even Pakistanis and Sri Lankans have a sweeter tooth than Indians. What then makes India the diabetes capital of the world?

Can sugar be the sole culprit for making India the diabetes capital of the world? Well, if some experts and sugar industry representatives are to be believed, the sweetener is being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy over rising cases of diabetes in the country, especially as a host of factors, including sedentary lifestyle and growing urbanisation, are causing diabetes.

In a seminar on 'Sugar and Health', organised by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the premier association of private sugar factories in the country, industry players said there was an annual increase of 6.25 per cent in diabetes cases in