Diabetes in Thailand: WHO calls for tax on fast food
More and more Thai die from the consequences of diabetes. The World Health Organization WHO therefore calls for higher taxes on fast food and products with a high sugar content to limit non-infectious diseases such as diabetes.
Daniel Kertsz, WHO representative for Thailand, says that this tax has been successful in many countries. Low-skilled and poor people in particular eat less healthily, which is seen as a major factor in the increase in certain diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
The WHO, the Ministry of Health and the Thai NCD Alliance signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday on World Health Day. This plan provides for the reduction of diabetes type 1 and 2, cancer and heart disease, among other things.
In 2013, 28.260 Thai people died from lifestyle-related diseases, most of them from diabetes. The number of Thais at risk of developing either type of diabetes has risen from 6,2 percent in 2009 to 8,9 percent in 2014, Ramathibodi Hospital said. The number of patients who are not aware that they have the disease has increased from 31,2 percent to 43,1 percent.
According to Kertsz, 1 in 10 Thais suffer from diabetes. The regional director of WHO Southeast Asia speaks of an epidemic. In 2030, diabetes will be the most deadly disease, he predicts.
It seems to me that less sugar would solve the problems quite nicely.
All food is stuffed with sugar.
Even the yogurt tastes sweet.
Fast food hasn't been around long enough to have caused diabetes on a large scale.
All those elderly Thai people with diabetes have probably never eaten fast food.
Yes, a fantastic idea to tax sugar extra and, as far as I'm concerned, immediately include salt in the taxes. Diabetics in Thailand have a big problem. In almost all restaurants, the food is overloaded with sugar and salt. I myself have had diabetes for 44 years and when I go out for dinner with my girlfriend, she instructs the service to prepare the food with little sugar and salt, but it is still best to prepare food at home.
Products for diabetics are hardly available in Thailand. With the soft drinks only Colo zero or Pepsi Max and nothing else. And there is also low-sugar jam for sale. In Thailand the supply of “light” products (for diabetics) is less than 5% of that in the Netherlands. All processed foods in Thailand are overloaded with both sugar and sodium. Yes, even the yogurt. Even the Vitamilk soy milk with less sugar contains more sugar than normal milk.
Test material for diabetes self-monitoring is almost 50% more expensive in Thailand than in the Netherlands. I myself buy my test material from Amazon in the US because it is about 40-50% below the Dutch price. Healthy living as a diabetic in Thailand is expensive and can only be done by preparing everything yourself from fresh stuff.
Even that Coke Zero or Light (technically identical) and Pepsi Max are nowhere to be found. I don't even mean at every stall: Even in a district capital it is sometimes difficult to find cans or 50cl bottles. A 7/11 usually has nothing bigger and in the Tesco Lotus that stock is always exhausted. However, a 1,25 liter PET bottle is much cheaper per quantity. Compared to the availability of regular Coke, one cannot expect that Thai would ever get around to sugar substitutes that are safe for diabetics.
I have known for a few years that I have type 2 diabetes. Diabetes 1 is hereditary and you have it for the rest of your life, you have to inject, so to speak. Diabetes 2 occurs due to being overweight, but it can be controlled with a pill. I drink alcohol, the occasional cola, but everything in moderation.
The most dangerous is diabetes 2 and you don't know it !!!!!
A little assassin, so to speak.
The values are between 80 and 120 mg/dl. For someone with diabetes 2, it can go up to 180 so as not to walk around in panic all the time.
I just moved to Thailand and played golf a lot. After a few rounds of a Red Bull to pump up the energy, then another energy drink followed by a Cola. Hoppa!
I didn't check my blood in those days.
The next morning I drove my motorcycle through Pattaya again and I tell my girlfriend "I don't feel so good". Coincidentally, a friend of mine had just told me that there was a branch of the Bangkok Hospital nearby, so I quickly went there.
Just for the record. A value of 80/120 is normal. A value of 300 occurs but is dangerous and anything above that often ends up in a coma with the result that the majority does not wake up from the coma!!!!!
That I am writing this down for you is a miracle…………my blood sugar value was 550 at that moment !!!
Zoe immediately put me on an IV for the next few hours and monitored me continuously
Now three years later everything is under control with two pills a day
The moral of the story.
Have your blood checked for the correct value and if you are screwed with diabetes 2 then there is nothing to worry about.
Lots of health to everyone.
Fred Repko
Losing weight by simply leaving all carbohydrates prevents the development of Diabetes 2, and fighting it with medicines. The reasoning: only 2 pills prevent nothing, and the diabetes remains. See and read: http://www.foodlog.nl/artikel/ab-klink-wil-diabetestherapie-voeding-leeft-over-gehele-linie-doorvoeren/allcomments/desc/
Piet Jan,
Thanks for your nice tips. I'm going to work on it !
I think more explanation about how to pursue a healthy weight is the best solution. This way you prevent overweight and underweight. But whether a Thai or Dutch person wants to listen to it? is of course another story. I did it anyway. My kilo bangers were the bags of chips and slightly oversized portions. Also 2 hot meals as is common in many countries was not such a good idea for me. Drinking less fruit juice and less salt has also helped me. Spoke a total of 2 times with a lady who has learned for this and visited a meeting about a stomach reduction + intestinal shortening and I turned the switch. The latter went two steps too far in my experience. I see all values that doctors can measure appear in green on paper. However, my environment is somewhat difficult. I don't snack anymore and eat a lot less and that doesn't seem to be fun or something. I can advise all Thai to keep an eye on the scales. But to raise a tax now? Denmark has abolished the defences. And yes, I sometimes eat a nice fries and a frikandel. Nice. But with sizes. And you have to take your time with weight loss. Otherwise, you will get stuck in your own skin. And we must not forget that slim people also end up in the hospital with all kinds of problems.
Google es on “white rice diabetes” and you will see what I was told by my ex-students (I went to do Computer Science)…
http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/16/study-does-eating-white-rice-raise-your-risk-of-diabetes/
I thought it was nice… next to the other 879689564 on the left…
“Those who ate the highest amounts of white rice had a 27% higher risk of diabetes”
low-skilled and poor people don't eat fast food, they eat white rice….
27% more still means that if 5 of a number of white rice gluttons have diabetes, 4 of the same number of others are just as diabetic. This kind of "increased chance" of something terrifying happens in just about every possible comparison between different eating habits. A four times higher (that is 300% more) chance of something that costs at least 1 in a hundred (premature) deaths is reason to adjust your behaviour. Wanting to do it even better makes you die of worries.
Alcohol turns into… ah yes, sugar. Also in Thailand there is quite a lot of drinking and not because people are poor, but people become and remain poor because of it. And diabetic.
I have been living in Thailand for three years now. Before I came to live here I had diabetic 2 and high blood pressure I had to take daily medication for my sugar and blood pressure. It was all due to being overweight. Since I live here and have adapted to the living habits of here, my diabetic problem has been solved and my blood pressure is back to normal. In fact, I donated all my medication (brought from Belgium for a whole year) to the local hospital where I live, I have lost 30 kilos and am now at my normal weight and all that by just eating what the Thais eat. I didn't follow a diet, didn't have surgery, just changed my diet and everything is back to normal. I just wanted to get rid of that.