Toronto, July 20 - Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in India, and the country faces huge health, social and economic consequences from it, warns an Indian-origin expert based in Canada.

Sonia Anand, who is leading an international study on diabetes and is associate professor in medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton near here, said India faces an imminent threat from type-2 diabetes and heart problems arising from it.

'India is sitting on a diabetes the time-bomb and it is ticking very fast,' she said.

In type-2 diabetes, glucose or sugar builds up in blood rather than getting used by the body. Obesity and sedentary lifestyle are said to be its leading causes.

'In fact, I should say it is already an epidemic with 40 million type 2 diabetics in India,' Anand told IANS here.

'India already has the largest number of diabetics in the world, and the situation is going to get worse,' she warned.

'The World Health Organisation and the International Diabetes Federation have already warned that the disease has become an epidemic in India.'

Anand, who is heading the world's largest study of genetic causes of diabetes in adults, said: 'Since diabetes is the leading cause of heart diseases, India also faces an epidemic of heart problems. So the burden of chronic disease among adults will skyrocket.'

Asked why Indians and South Asians are more prone to diabetes, she said: 'Indians are very sensitive to weight gain which leads to metabolic changes such as increased blood sugar and cholesterol -- it is likely some combination of genetics and diet.