Taiwanese’s love of sugary drinks is among the leading causes of kidney failure in the nation, a chronic kidney disease specialist has said.
Excessive consumption of sugar has overtaken excessive salt consumption as the leading cause of end-stage kidney failure in Taiwan, Hung Yung-hsiang (洪永祥) said on Facebook on March 9, adding that 46 percent of Taiwanese on dialysis are diabetic.
Youth offers no protection for the kidneys and daily consumption of sugary drinks can result in kidney failure within a few years, he said.
Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times
Citing an example, Hung said he had treated a high-school student for immunoglobulin A nephropathy, which was brought under control by medication.
The boy stopped visiting his clinic after leaving for college studies abroad, Hung said.
Four years later, the patient reappeared at the clinic 20kg heavier and displaying symptoms of serious kidney problems, Hung said.
The man had high levels of protein in his urine and his glomerular filtration rate (GFR) — a blood test that measures how well a person’s kidneys are functioning — had dropped to 28 milliliters per minute (mL/min) from the normal levels of 90 mL/min, he said.
The patient was diagnosed with stage 4 chronic kidney disease, one stage from complete loss of kidney function that would make him dependent on dialysis, Hung said.
The man had been drinking four or five servings of sugary beverages per week, leading to kidney damage, gout and moderately severe fatty liver disease, he said.
The patient’s GFR improved to 60 mL/min after avoiding sugary drinks for two weeks, Hung said.
An overabundance of sugar in food and drink is the most significant cause of kidney disease among young Taiwanese, he said.
More than 30 percent of dialysis patients who are younger than 40 have diabetes, he added, citing the 2018 Annual Report on Kidney Disease in Taiwan by the National Health Research Institutes.
The number of Taiwanese with diabetes increased by 2.6 times from 2000 to 2016, while the percentage of diabetic people younger than 20 increased from 9.65 percent to 13.94 percent from 2008 to 2019, he said, citing the Epidemiologic Study of Type 2 Diabetes in Taiwan.
The country’s soft drinks industry nearly doubled from 14,282 venues in December 2011 to 27,509 in August last year, he said.
The Health Promotion Administration said in a report on public health last year that 93.9 percent of junior high-school students and 88.9 percent of high-school students consumed sugary beverages at least once a week, he said.
“There is no doubt that these changes are linked to the increased consumption of sugary beverages by young people,” Hung said.
A majority of health researchers in Taiwan recommend consuming no more than three servings of sweet drinks a week, he said.
As kidney function begins to decline after the age of 30, people who drink more than that amount significantly increase their risk of chronic kidney disease, gout and diabetes, Hung said.
Young people who want to enjoy a beverage can substitute sweet drinks with skim milk, unsweetened soy or almond milk, unsweetened tea, carbonated water, low-calorie energy drinks or black coffee, he said.
People with pre-existing kidney disease should only drink water, he added.
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