Dr. Zuleila Fuseini, Physician Specialist at International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) at Tema, has advised that refined sugar should be taken moderately.

She said one should substitute refined sugar for natural sweeteners for a healthy lifestyle.

Dr. Fuseini said much intake of refined sugar should be cut down as the body required about 100 calories daily, or approximately six teaspoons of sugar, which we obtain from the food we consume.

She noted that the foods we consume, such as beverages and diets that contain carbohydrates, among others, have complex sugar in them.

“Therefore, our total consumption should not be more than 100 calories; hence, the need to be moderate in refined sugar intake to help maintain a healthy lifestyle,” the medical doctor said.

Dr. Fuseini said this at the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility!, a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative aimed at promoting health-related communication and providing a platform for health information dissemination to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy.

The Ghana News Agency’s Tema Regional Office developed the public health advocacy platform “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility” to investigate the components of four health communication approaches: informing, instructing, convincing, and promoting.

Speaking on “Diabetes Mellitus,” Dr. Fuseini stressed that processed sugar may be linked to a high increased risk of many conditions such as diabetes, either type one or type two, when consumed without moderation.

Dr. Fuseini noted: “Diabetic patients are advised to take natural sweeteners like honey, which is healthier due to its natural content and its nutritional benefits.”

The IMaH Physician Specialist highlighted some symptoms of diabetes that one should look out for, even though they take a longer period of time to develop in the body because it’s known as a silent killer.

In most cases, the symptoms include frequent urination, excessive eating, sores that are slow to heal, unintentional weight loss, numbness, and extreme hunger, which indicate a high content of sugar in the blood.

“With all these symptoms, one needs to seek immediate medical attention for them to be treated or managed,” she advised.