hyderabad chaitanya name changed appears to be just another 18yearold student pursuing engineering at a popular college located on the city outskirts an industrious student he spends nearly 14 hours on his studies and is frequently tuanted by classmates when they see him popping pills before lunch every other day while it has become a routine for chaitanya a diabetic city doctors are worried over the increasing breed of teenagers falling prey to the chronic condition especially in the welltodo familiesdiabetes among young individuals has significant public health consequence experts say as the silent killer affects vital organs and peaks in people during the most economically productive age group hampering work caseload varies greatly but modest estimates suggest that around 10 new cases of diabetes are being diagnosed in the teenage population specialists say the idea that it wont happen to me because i am young is not true anymore the incidence of diabetes has increased substantially among the teenagers during the last five years more so in the 1516 years age group when the teenagers enter into professional colleges said dr r n mehrotra endocrinologist apollo hospital who is coming across at least one new teenage patient a month experts say the young population hardly has playtime in their packed schedule to add to this are the changing food habits wherein the tempting pizzas burgers chocolates and soft drinks have replaced the boring homemade food the trend of increasing incidence of diabetes in the affluent families in the country the expert said is an ironic contrast to the west where the lower strata is vulnerable to the disease the environment in which our children are growing up is very bad and its starts from home parents do not encourage physical activity nor do schools there are no playgrounds in the crowded concrete jungles and it is becoming impossible to walk on the roads said dr vijay shekhar reddy head endocrinology gandhi hospital experts said that around 2030 youngsters are obese in urban areas which puts them at a higher risk of becoming diabetic the rest 70 have diabetes because of bad hygiene recurrent infections in their childhood exposure to pollution of air water and food research has shown that chemicals stimulate body to produce antibodies that work against the body tissues like pancreas thyroid and intestine and damage them leading to diabetes thyroid diseases and digestive problems said dr p v rao head endocrinology nizams institute of medical sciences