Int’l Symposium on Diabetes and Ramadan Planned in Cairo
Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan is obligatory for able-bodied Muslims. Ramadan is a lunar-based month, and its duration varies between 29 and 30 days. Muslims who fast during Ramadan must abstain from eating, drinking, using oral medications, and smoking from predawn to after sunset.
Most people consume two meals per day during this month, one after sunset and the other before dawn. Fasting is not meant to create excessive hardship on the Muslim individual according to religious tenets, so Muslims who are pregnant or sick are exempted from fasting according the Quran.
Nevertheless, many Muslims with diabetes insist on fasting during Ramadan, thereby creating a medical challenge for themselves and their health care providers. It is important that medical professionals be aware of the potential risks associated with fasting during Ramadan (mainly hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia) and approaches to mitigate those risks. These issues are rapidly becoming global issues, not only in Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Middle East, but also in North America, Europe and Oceania.
Physicians, researchers, nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians, pharmacists, psychologists, endocrinologists, diabetes educators, people interested in diabetes, people with diabetes, diabetes health professionals and other healthcare professionals are expected to attend the Cairo symposium.
Ramadan fasting in diabetics with liver disease, diabetes and Ramadan at a primary care setting, pathophysiology of fasting, potential benefits of intermittent fasting, the dates consumption controversy, diabetes education and macro diet; a new strategy in nutrition during Ramadan are among the topics to be discussed in the symposium.
Source: dda-egy.com
