People should avoid excessive consumption of sugary beverages to help prevent diabetes or glucose intolerance and the serious complications of such illnesses, such as genital inflammations, a Kaohsiung-based urologist said on Sunday.
Jianren Hospital urologist Su Sheng-tsun (蘇聖村) said a patient who sought treatment for a genital inflammation had been drinking about 3 liters of sugary beverages per day for more than 10 years.
Blood tests showed that the man had a blood sugar level higher than the maximum measurable 600 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) after eating, which meant he was at risk of developing diabetic ketoacidosis — a potentially fatal condition characterized by high levels of blood acids called ketones that occurs when the body cannot produce enough insulin, Su said.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
Worrried about the water quality in Vietnam when he moved there for work 10 years ago, the man began mostly drinking packaged sugared coffee instead of water, and even after he returned to Taiwan two years ago, he continued to prefer sugary drinks to water, Su said.
Although the man tried to get such drinks made with half the usual sweetener, he was drinking four of them per day, which added up to almost 3 liters, and put him over the safe limits for sugar consumption, Su said.
The man had ignored the initial symptoms of high blood-sugar levels, such as the frequent need to urinate and constant dehydration, and only decided to see a doctor after developing the genital inflammation, Su said.
Medication lowered the man’s blood sugar level to 200 mg/dL and his inflammation subsequently receded, Su said.
Inflammation of the genitals occurs in about 25 percent of male diabetics due to the introduction of bacteria.
Of those who develop such inflammation, only 11 percent receive early diagnosis for diabetes or glucose intolerance, Su said.
Failure to detect and treat the condition early can lead to potentially fatal ketoacidosis, he added.
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