Calcutta: The number of children with Type I diabetes has gone up from four in 100,000 to 15 in 25 years.

The reasons could be fewer mothers breastfeeding their babies and more adults suffering from the disease, according to doctors.

But keeping the blood sugar level in check, taking the right insulin dose and a controlled diet can help a person lead a normal life.

"Deficiencies in the immune system of a child will make him/her more prone to viral attacks... this can act as a trigger for Type I diabetes to set in," Subrata Dey, paediatric endocrinologist, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, said.

Breastfeeding a child strengthens his/her immune system.

The practice is on the wane as more and more young working mothers get to spend little time with their children apart from lack of awareness, he said.

Dey spoke to Metro on the sidelines of an Apollo Gleneagles programme on Tuesday on the occasion of World Diabetes Day and Children's Day.

Fifteen children with Type I diabetes attended the programme with their parents.

Another key factor behind the rise in Type 1 diabetes is the growing number of people with Type 2 diabetes, Subhankar Chowdhury of SSKM Hospital said.

Chowdhury heads the department of endocrinology at the hospital's Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research.

Children of parents with Type 2 diabetes are more likely to get Type 1 diabetes if they are predisposed to insulin deficiency, he said.

Latest studies show Scandinavian countries like Finland have the highest percentage of children with Type 1 diabetes, Chowdhury said.

"In comparison, the percentage in India is lower. But a small percentage in India means a large number because of the population," he said. More than 120,000 people have Type 1 diabetes in India, according to the studies, he said.

In both types, people suffer from deficiency of insulin, a hormone that converts sugar and starch into energy.

Type 1 diabetes is found mostly in children and Type 2 mostly in adults.

Chowdhury said a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research across 10 states had showed that the urban-rural divide was waning when it came to diabetes.

At the Apollo programme, many of the parents whose children were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes long ago assured parents of children diagnosed with the disease recently, some a week ago, that the disease is manageable.

"My daughter was diagnosed two years ago. She has to take insulin thrice daily," the mothers of a 12-year-old girl said.

"With time we have learnt to regulate the dose keeping in mind her level of physical activity and food intake."

More than 72 million people, the second-highest after China, in the country have diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation.