A growing number of Thai young people are at risk of developing diabetes due to their diet. The number of people with diabetes in Thailand is expected to rise from 4,8 million this year to about 5,3 million in 2040. This forecast comes from the International Diabetes Federation and the Diabetes Association of Thailand. It is noted that there may be an increase in diabetes cases among children and teenagers.
On World Diabetes Day, Piyada Prasertsom, the manager of the Network of Thai Children Against Sugar, emphasized that the worrying thing about diabetes in Thailand is that it is becoming more common among young people, partly due to their eating habits. Although diabetes is usually seen in middle-aged people, type 2 diabetes is now being diagnosed in Thai children as young as 10 or 11 years old. This is mainly caused by high sugar consumption.
The World Health Organization recommends a maximum sugar intake of 10 teaspoons (50 grams) per day. However, in Thailand, a single glass of soft drink already contains 10 to 15 teaspoons of sugar, according to Piyada. She points out that not only pure sugar, but also other foods contain a lot of sugar. People at risk of diabetes should therefore immediately change their eating habits, in particular by reducing the consumption of sugar and soft drinks.
Why is type 2 diabetes so serious?
Type 2 diabetes, a chronic condition characterized by high blood sugar levels due to insulin resistance or a lack of insulin production, can have several health consequences:
- Heart and vascular disease: People with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, strokes, and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
- Kidney damage (nephropathy): Diabetes can damage the kidneys, which can lead to kidney failure or decreased kidney function.
- Nerve damage (neuropathy): High blood sugar can cause nerve damage, resulting in tingling, numbness, burning or painful sensations, especially in the hands and feet.
- Eye problems: Diabetes can lead to several eye problems, including diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, and glaucoma, which can eventually lead to blindness.
- Skin problems: Skin conditions, including infections and ulcers, are more common in people with diabetes.
- Poor wound healing: Elevated blood sugars can lead to poor blood circulation and nerve damage, which slows the healing process of wounds.
- Hearing problems: Diabetes can affect hearing, leading to hearing loss.
- sleep apnea: This is more common in people with type 2 diabetes and can further complicate blood sugar control.
- Alzheimer's and dementia: Type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
- Impotence: Type 2 diabetes can lead to impotence or erectile dysfunction (ED) in men. This is due to the damage that high blood sugar levels can do to both blood vessels and nerves, which are essential for achieving and maintaining an erection. Additionally, hormonal imbalance and psychological factors such as depression and decreased self-confidence, which often accompany diabetes, can also contribute to ED. Some medications for diabetes and related conditions can also cause or worsen erectile dysfunction
- Gestational complications: In women, type 2 diabetes can cause complications during pregnancy, affecting the health of both mother and child.
Management of type 2 diabetes includes lifestyle adjustments, such as diet and exercise, and possibly medications to control blood sugar levels to minimize the risk of these complications.
Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service
Not just sugar but fast food in general. When you see how much supply there is, plus all the chilled drinks with colored sugar syrup and some food festival every day, it is not surprising that Thai youth are becoming increasingly fat and therefore more susceptible to its medical disadvantages. Since parents keep children quiet and calm with sabaai and mow penraai, that won't change anything, I'm afraid.
Fast food and even more so, little or no exercise is the main culprit….
Actually, it would be better to talk about carbohydrates instead of sugar, especially the fast carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar. Fast carbohydrates are: sugar, soft drinks, candy, fast food, pastries, white bread, white rice, gingerbread, sports drinks, potatoes, ice cream, lemonade syrup.
Read more here: https://www.diabetesfonds.nl/over-eten/over-koolhydraten
What would you think of all the rice products. So not just rice, but rice biscuits, rice noodles, there are many products that contain rice. Diabetes is not only very high in children throughout Asia, much higher than in Europe. My Chinese friend has stopped eating all rice products and started living a healthier lifestyle.
He is now no longer diabetic and is only 42, so living a healthier lifestyle really helps.
Somehow I don't understand something.
Asians are generally known as skinny people. And they have eaten nothing but rice all their lives. All day long. And you now claim that it is not healthy?
I think all that fast food and sugar is the culprit. Not the rice itself.
It is not something I claim but has been proven by research.
Rice converts to glucose, that's one of the problems
My wife uses jasmine rice mix
Mainly two colours, but there are also three white/brown/black.
Recommended by the doctor, as I am also on the borderline of pre-diabetes.
It will also be a matter of quality, i.e. money.
Of course there are more nutritional recommendations.
Everything in moderation will keep you slim and healthy.
Your portion of rice every day won't hurt at all. Eventually you wouldn't be allowed to eat anything at all. Specialists and all kinds of research constantly contradict themselves.
Get some exercise, get out of your lazy chair and limit your sugar intake. Then you are well on your way to a healthy life. Your bowl of rice every day does nothing wrong.
If only it were true that Thais would eat a portion of rice every day. Thais eat a lot of noodles, a lot of them. Bursting with carbohydrates. And furthermore: almost no fruit, and rarely vegetables.
Am I reading wrong? Above there is no mention of noodles, fruit and vegetables. I don't understand why you're suddenly starting to talk about it now.
The discussion was about the bad properties of rice or not. I eat a lot of rice and have absolutely no problems with it.
Am I reading it correctly? The discussion is about the existence of oh so much diabetes 2, especially among young people. This is not due to their daily portion of rice, if they eat it at all, but the consumption of excessive carbohydrates and little or no fruit and vegetables is partly to blame. Eat in moderation and do it with variety. You also see a lot of obesity in farang.
Then it would be desirable to answer in the main topic and not to constantly interrupt the discussion of others. It's as if we're not allowed to have an opinion.
It's noticeable that you always try to contradict everyone, it gets annoying. Hopefully this can also be said here (thanks to the moderator).
In fact, this doesn't surprise me. If a Thai has to go to the toilet, he takes his motorbike.
Last week another great example of this:
I was parked in front of the 7-eleven. A woman arrives on her motorbike and parks on the left side of the building to withdraw money from the ATM machine.
Once done, she starts her motorcycle and drives 20 meters further to the right side of the building, parks there again and then buys a bottle of Coke. Two minutes later she left again.
My sister-in-law the same way. She runs a small shop 50 meters further down the street. I have NEVER seen her make that move on foot. And then they are surprised that they become obese.
I am already quite old and exercise almost every day. An hour and a half on the exercise bike. I feel great about that. I have a fairly large Thai family and as far as I know no one there plays sports. Understandable because that makes you tired 😉
This government's plan: Sugertax is coming, all products in which sugar is processed will be heavily taxed / Loose sugar will become 10 times more expensive.
It's already raining protests from the manufacturers!
But it is inevitable.
Can you give me a sugar 'source', dear Andrew.
Especially when it comes to those 10x.
Sugar tax? I don't believe it. Do you have a link to that or is that just your own opinion?
Something is regularly posted here that later turns out to be completely untrue.
The population is already groaning because everything is so expensive. Now to come around and say that sugar will become 10x more expensive is nonsense.
There is a sugar production shortage worldwide. Bangkok Post had many articles about it in recent days. Enter the word 'sugar' in the search box on their site and you will come a long way. Because the government initially refused to increase the sugar price (consumer protection was said), an increase of 2 baht per kg was imposed after much protest. Thai sugar producers face high costs and face competition with Brazil. Support measures are also not allowed because they are against WTO regulations, and Thailand has to deal with this if it wants to compete on the world market as an exporter. About the price increase, read: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2684839/sugar-price-rise-approved
And is there also talk that they will increase the price tenfold? Pure nonsense.
There is no question of a tenfold increase in the price of sugar. Not in Thailand nor in other sugar producing countries. There is only a loose (but I actually mean a different type of characterization) comment by someone who thinks he is stirring things up.