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Avoid Sugary Drinks Now or Risk Getting Diabetes and Cancer
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright January 2022
Growing up in a village, in the 1950s, we were introduced to a red sugary drink called “Air Sarbat”, very early in life.
It was pure syrup from white sugar reddened with artificial colouring. That was the main drink at weddings, festivals or prepared for guests who declined tea or coffee.
On other occasions, it would be mixed with sweetened condensed milk. A sickeningly sweet milky drink that could give you diarrhoea.
At all wedding feasts in our village during the 1950s, I remember guests would be high because they had added betel nut roots to the drink. Much later I found out that it was a primary ingredient for a psychoactive drink in other societies, too. Everyone, including the local ulamaks, in our village then we’re always happy at weddings, dancing the joget and ronggeng all night until dawn. A marked contrast to Malay weddings these days.
In a poor Malay community like ours then, besides tea or coffee, there was no other choice except plain water. But when guests showed up on your doorstep, the hosts were compelled to offer them a little more than just plain water to avoid the embarrassing question, “Apa ni, air kosong saja?” (What, only plain water?).
They would feel insulted and hosts would be embarrassed when rumours spread that a particular family was stingy (kedekut) with drinks. Thus housewives kept a bottle of red syrup ready for the unexpected guests, to add colour to otherwise plain water.
Malays in Kelantan are notorious for sweet dishes. Their cooking, including savoury ones, like curries and sambal may be sweet to outsiders. But for an average Kelantanese, that might not be sweet enough. Visit any coffee shop in Kota Bahru and you will hear customers demanding additional sugar to eat with their roti canai and curry. Besides, after a sip of the teh tarik with thick sweetened condensed milk, they never fail to ask for that extra sugar.
This sugar-sweet culture has resulted in untold miseries of diabetes, cancer and other related illnesses that afflicted Malaysians for generations. In particular, Malays.
According to health statistics, there were almost 4 million Malaysians with diabetes, in 2019. Its prevalence rose from 13.4% in 2015 to 18.3% in 2019. In other words, almost 20% of adults are diabetic and the trend is likely to continue upwards.
One study, published in a medical journal recently, found that consumption of sugary drinks was linked to high risks of cancer. They found that adults who drink two or more per day are twice at risk of getting bowel cancer before 50. They claimed that all soft drinks, including energy or sports drinks and even those fruit flavoured ones, are threats to you.
That gives us yet another reason to quit drinking sugar solutions, including Malaysia’s all-time favourites, Air Batu Campur, Cendol, sugar cane, teh or kopi tarik and ais Bandung. Even when you request “less sugar” at any coffee shop, it would still be too sweet. The best is to drink black coffee and perhaps tea with milk but minus the sugar.
In addition, all fizzy drinks have high sugar content. In some cases, one can of soft drink contains as much as seven spoonfuls of sugar.
My brother in law is dying in hospital. He started drinking teh tarik two or three big glasses a day when he was a teenager. On top of that, he had “three in one” coffee at least once a day. But he liked it strong with very little hot water. He had colon cancer at 60 that spread to his liver. When discovered it was already at stage 4.
My sister was no different. She loved sugary stuff, passed away at 50. My classmate who consumed the most teh and kopi tarik in our class since school days succumbed to the disease at 40. My father in law said the main cause of his heart problem which required surgery was one teh tarik and a roti canai daily since he was 17. When we visited him at IJN he pointed to a gentleman in the next bed; “That man had a lifestyle like mine. Except he took two of each a day. So he has a heart problem and cancer!”.
I must confess I was lucky. I left our tiny village in my teens and lived in a community that abhorred sugar. We had no sugar or any soft drinks in our kitchen.
My last colonoscopy was negative. There was no polyps or abnormal growth.
So start the new year right, stop all sugary drinks. Here are my tips:
1. Do not drink soft drinks.
2. Give up teh or kopi tarik unless they are served with plain milk.
3. Avoid ABC or air batu campur. More so when it is served with ice cream.
4. Do not stock your kitchen with sugar, that way, you have no choice but to drink everything sugarless.
5. Have a colonoscopy immediately. Do not wait until you are 50. Bowel cancer seems to appear earlier than 50 these days because of our diet which is rich in sugar.
6. Monitor your blood sugar. Blood tests are available at pharmacies. Go have one today.
7. Lead a healthy lifestyle, exercise at least 150 minutes a week or 20 minutes a day.
Have a good year ahead. Make 2022 the year when you give up sugar.
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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