Marcos pushes programs urging youth to cut sugary food intake

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. —PHOTO FROM PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS
OFFICE

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday underscored the need to develop programs that will encourage the youth to curb their consumption of sugar-rich foods to help prevent kidney diseases.

Speaking at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Diliman, Quezon City, Marcos urged Filipinos to avoid excessive intake of sweets to help prevent diabetes, one of the leading causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

READ: Preventing chronic kidney disease: regular check-ups, healthy diet

“That’s why we also need to create programs to teach our youth not to consume only sweet foods, not to constantly crave them… especially those with refined sugar,” Marcos said.

The President is also eyeing a “long-term plan” to encourage the youth to limit their intake of sugary foods.

“Instead of drinking soft drinks, they should opt for fruit juice—it’s sweet as well. Rather than adding sugar to everything and eating only sweet foods, they should learn to follow the Ilocano diet, which includes slightly bitter foods like bitter gourd (ampalaya). That’s beneficial for improving the health of our youth,” Marcos said.

“So that is a long-term plan that we will have to implement. We need the help of parents, teachers, and even the industry—let’s say, those who prepare fast food—to reduce the amount of sugar they add, so that our youth won’t end up in this kind of condition,” he added.

CKD is a global health concern, affecting an estimated 9.1 to 13.4 percent of the world’s population.

In the Philippines, however, PhilHealth reported a significantly higher prevalence rate of 35.94 percent, with one Filipino developing chronic kidney failure every hour, equivalent to around 120 new cases per million population annually.

READ: Chronic kidney disease: 1 Filipino develops it every 40 minutes

Marcos’ visit to the NKTI coincided with the launch of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s new benefit package for adult and pediatric post-kidney transplant patients.

He was welcomed by patients at the Hemodialysis Center, the Hemodialysis Center Extension, and those who had undergone kidney transplants.

Under the enhanced benefit package for members with stage 5 CKD, the number of covered hemodialysis sessions has been increased from 90 to 156 per year. The Z Benefit Package for peritoneal dialysis has also been raised to up to P1.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Z Benefit coverage for kidney transplantation has been increased from P600,000 to P2 million./mcm/abc