In addition to keeping fit and taking their medication, those with diabetes must also control their blood-sugar levels by carefully watching their diet.

Mind Your Body asked Ms Liong Suet Mei, a dietitian at the department of dietetics at the National University Hospital (NUH), for her advice for young diabetics.

Ms Liong said that it is important for young patients and their family members to watch the patients' sugar and carbohydrate intake.

'We usually teach them how to count carbohydrates using educational handouts. Through these, they learn to judge their intake through portion sizes,' she said.

'We teach the parents first, then the children, especially if the kids are too young to manage their diet on their own,' she added.

She emphasised that parents have to inculcate the right eating habits in their diabetic children from young.

Such knowledge about what foods are suitable and being disciplined about their diet are helpful when the kids reach school age and spend more time away from their parents.

Otherwise, factors like peer pressure may influence young diabetics to forgo their strict diets, Ms Liong explained.

There may be healthier food options out there these days but children might still be tempted to opt for the less healthy options, she said.

Also, given that young diabetics are still growing, it is important for them to get adequate nutrition.

Ms Liong said there is a misconception that all young diabetics have to go on a low-carbohydrate diet. It is similarly wrong to equate diabetes with a lifetime of bland foods.

Many popular desserts, she pointed out, can be made at home using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar.

On foods to especially avoid, she said these would include sauces like ketchup and teriyaki sauce which have high sugar content.

She also advised against consuming canned drinks, including those purported to contain 'less sugar'.

In the two years she has spent attending to young diabetics, Ms Liong said she would encourage families to change their diets to show their support for the patient.

'You can't be eating unhealthy food and then expect your child not to want to do the same,' she said.

Raising awareness of illness

The Diabetic Society of Singapore (DSS), a non-profit organisation, was set up in 1971 and has been working steadily to improve public awareness of diabetes through its education efforts.

It also provides counselling and financial help to patients and their family members.

Its three centres and its mobile clinic, which visits community centres islandwide, provide health screenings and diabetes management advice.

The DSS also hosts an annual event to mark World Diabetes Day (WDD).

This year's event, held on Sunday, was organised in conjunction with the opening of the new DSS headquarters at Bedok Reservoir Road.

DSS' vice-president, Dr Kevin Tan, said the theme of this year's event was 'Detect diabetes early, treat it well", which coincided with the aims of the Health Promotion Board's 'Diabetes Be aWare' education campaign.

Apart from free health checks at the event, there were also talks on diabetes management and a Healthy Meal Display contest, in which participants submitted suggestions on healthy meals for diabetics.

Dr Tan, referring to challenges faced in managing and treating the illness, said: 'Diabetes is one of the most difficult chronic illnesses to treat.

'A person with diabetes not only needs to control his blood sugar through lifestyle modification and regular exercise, but also his blood pressure and cholesterol.

'Due to this difficulty, only 45 per cent of patients have good control of their condition.'

» For more information on the DSS, visit www.diabetes.org.sg

This article was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times on Nov 13, 2008.