Blindness the price of a sweet tooth

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Two cans of aerated drink for lunch daily was a recipe for disaster for Mohamad Ismail (not his real name).
The sweet liquid diet was convenient as the busy company executive did not have to leave his office to look for food.
The 47-year-old now wonders how he could have been so blind to the fact that excessive consumption of aerated drinks would affect his health.
Today, he is almost sightless, with limited vision in one eye. His active lifestyle has ended.
Three months ago he found himself unable to see through an eye and hardly able to make out anything with the other.
A visit to the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia revealed the worst: Diabetes had silently, and irreversibly, ravaged his eyes.
Mohamad is among scores of Malaysians blinded by the high sugar content of aerated drinks. Doctors call it diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy is today the leading cause of blindness among Malaysian adults, with more than half of diabetics eventually losing their vision.
And the future looks increasingly bleak: About 12 per cent of adults (from eight per cent at present) are expected to become diabetics by 2010.
According to HUKM senior consultant specialist Prof Dr Muhaya Mohamad, the chances of a diabetic becoming blind is 25 times greater than for a non-diabetic person.
She said diabetes occurred when beta cells became exhausted and could not produce insulin.
"Too much sugar can exhaust the cell and that leads to diabetes," she said.
Health Ministry studies show that more than five million young Malaysians could become victims of diabetes, hypertension, heart ailments and stroke this year if they do not change their lifestyles, and eating and smoking habits.
By 2020, the figure will rise to 10 million.
Dr Muhaya said diabetics should be regularly referred to an ophthalmologist for a check-up.
"Many doctors do not refer their patients until they complain of a loss of vision," she said, adding that patients may have already suffered damage to the eye by then.
Patients with diabetic retinopathy generally receive laser treatment.
She advised diabetics to exercise good control over their blood sugar to keep blindness at bay.
Dr Muhaya said more young Malaysians were becoming diabetic due to unhealthy eating habits, including excessive intake of sugar.
"Exposing children early to aerated drinks is bad as they develop a sweet tooth. They may not appreciate water, which is the best drink."