Diabetes globally has entered the top five causes of death in the world. Chair of the Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolic Disorders Working Team, Ministry of Health, Esti Widiastuti, said the conditions in Indonesia are not much different.
He emphasized that diabetes has changed the pattern of disease that has occurred in the world in the last decade. Excessive consumption of sugar, oil and salt, he continued, is one of the main causes of diabetes cases in Indonesia.
“One in five Indonesians has entered the pre-diabetes group, not yet diabetes, but blood sugar is above normal,” he said during an online media meeting, regarding World Diabetes Day 2023, Monday (6/11).
World Diabetes Day is celebrated on November 14 every year.
Granulated white granulated sugar and rock sugar are seen in the image illustration taken December 16 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot)
Minister of Health Regulation Number 30 of 2013, states that the limit for sugar consumption per day is 10 percent of the total energy of 200 kilo calories (kcal). This amount is equivalent to four tablespoons of sugar or 50 grams per person a day.
Data from 2019 shows that diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in Indonesia, with 6.2 percent. Stroke is in first place with 19.4 percent, followed by heart disease at 14.4 percent, and cancer at 13.5 percent.
Triggered by Environmental Factors
The extreme hot weather in recent times has encouraged the consumption of cold drinks, such as sweetened iced tea and sweetened packaged drinks. This phenomenon was responded to by the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM), which asked the public to be wiser in choosing intake that is safe for the body.
A wide variety of Halloween candy in New York. (Photo: AP)
BPOM urges the public not to consume sweetened iced tea and packaged sweetened drinks too often.
“Sugar consumption exceeding the recommendations can risk causing obesity and type 2 diabetes,” explained BPOM in a statement some time ago.
Child health expert from the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), Professor Aman Pulungan also highlighted packaged drinks and foods with preservatives that are often consumed by children. Aman emphasized that the sugar content in drinks or packaged food is not suitable for children. However, ironically, these types of snacks are widely available in school canteens. If not, parents will actually prepare sweet food or drinks for their children’s school supplies. In fact, 30 to 50 percent of a child’s life is at school.
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“Especially if full dayand nothing snack healthy at school, it is difficult to get healthy food. “Meanwhile in other countries, fruit is available in schools,” he said.
It is safe to highlight the prevalence of diabetes in children. He supports the implementation of excise taxes on sugary drinks, as a step to ensure that people, especially children, do not become addicted.
“Diabetes in children is often caused by excessive sugar content in sweetened food or drinks. Today’s industry must be honest, in the sense of ensuring the sugar content. Even though the juice is said to be sugar-free, it turns out that it also has sugar in it,” stressed Aman.
Passengers walk past a Kirin vending machine offering drinks from the beverage giant on a subway platform in Osaka. (Photo: AFP)
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Endocrinology Association (Perkeni) Prof. Dr. Dr. Ketut Suastika, SpPD-KEMD, revealed that there was an increase and shift in diabetes patients, who are now targeting the generation under 40 years of age.
“In the past, diabetes sufferers were over 50 years old, but now they have shifted to under 40 years old. There are 5 percent that I handle. “Previously it was very rare,” said Ketut.
This shift in the age pattern of people with diabetes, added Ketut, needs to be anticipated from an early age. Ketut is worried that excessive sugar consumption can trigger type 2 diabetes from a young age.
World Diabetes Day: Protect the Young Generation from the Dangers of Sugar
Treatment for diabetes and its hereditary diseases is relatively expensive. Chair of the Ministry of Health’s Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolic Disorders Working Team, Esti Widiastuti, noted that the increase in funding for National Health Insurance (JKN) in Indonesia was due to diabetes and a number of its derivative diseases.
“In 2021, the highest JKN costs will be caused by heart problems with IDR 8.7 trillion, cancer IDR 3.5 trillion, stroke IDR 2.2 trillion, and kidney failure IDR 1.8 trillion,” stressed Esti. [ys/ns/em]
2023-11-07 08:01:38
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