Islamabad
Diabetes and blood Pressure are among the major causes of kidney diseases. It is evident that high consumption of sugary drinks is one the major causes of diabetes. If we want to reduce the kidney diseases, we need to reduce the use of sugary drinks from our day to day life. This was said in a program organized by Pakistan Kidney Patients Welfare Association at a local hotel in Islamabad. Those who participated in the event were Chairman Pakistan Kidney Patients Welfare Association Dr. Zahir ud din, , Technical advisor PKPWA Brig. Shehzad, Secretary PKPWA Col. Sardar Khan, health and policy experts, civil society and media.
Dr. Zahir ud din said that kidney diseases are increasing day by day in Pakistan at an alarming level. There are different reasons of kidney diseases but our diet plays a very important role in these diseases. Excessive use of sugarsalt and ultra processed foods has important role in kidney diseases. We need to avoid using sugary drinks from our life if we want to reduce diabetes and blood pressure that are among the major causes of kidney diseases. According to a meta analysis of different studies in 2020 & 2021, daily use of one small glass of sugary drinks increase the risk of diabetes by 19% and blood pressure by 10 %. This ultimately increases the risk of kidney diseases. Government shall take policy actions to reduce the consumption of these unhealthy drinks. An evident based policy action is to increase the tax on these unhealthy drinks. In many countries when they increased tax on sugary drinks, the consumption of these drinks decreased significantly. We demand government of Pakistan to increase taxes on these drinks to minimum of 50 %. This will help decreasing the kidney diseases when consumption of these drinks will reduce.
Other speakers also emphasized the government to take immediate policy measures to reduce the fast growing kidney diseases. They said that imposition of higher taxes on SSBs will not only reduce the disease burden but will also give additional revenue to government that can be used on health care activities.