Purvi Chawla, a consultant diabetologist associated with the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India, said continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is crucial for diabetes pregnancy.
CGM is important for pregnant women as even a relapse of 5% per hour can lead to poor pregnancy outcomes and can have neonatal consequences, Dr. Chawla said while speaking at the annual Jothydev’s Professional Education Forum Diabetes Update 2025 (JPEF 2025) on Saturday.
K.R. Jyothilal, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), Government of Kerala, inaugurated the conference and launched two projects for Type 1 diabetes patients — ‘Dreams Practicals 2.0’ for children and ‘Dreams Guru Project’ for teachers of students suffering from the same medical condition.
The ways and means to fight obesity and diabetes were discussed at the conference from the point of view of improving quality of life and preventing cardiovascular complications.
Mahendra Narwaria, president of the All India Association for Advancing Research in Obesity (AIAARO), on Friday challenged the over reliance on body mass index (BMI) in clinical decision-making. “The BMI is a screening tool, not a decision tool. “Don’t let it gatekeep care,” Dr. Narwaria said.
He argued that the BMI fails to capture health risks specific to South Asians who develop metabolic disease at lower BMI thresholds, and that women and the elderly are often misclassified. He pointed to the Rubino Commission’s 2023 recommendation, which called for the BMI to be replaced with more comprehensive diagnostic frameworks.
Dr. Narwaria’s presentation urged clinicians to adopt multidimensional staging models like the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS), which considers adiposity, function, and disease risk—not simply weight.
More than 1,500 delegates, including doctors, nurses, dieticians, and educators from eight countries, are taking part in the conference which will draw to a close on Sunday.
Published – July 12, 2025 09:24 pm IST
