Stop taking high-calorie energy drinks – Prof Akosa cautions public

Renowned Ghanaian cellular pathologist and lifestyle wellness consultant Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa has advised the general public, specifically commercial or ‘trotro’ and long-haul drivers, to refrain from consuming high-calorie energy drinks to reduce the risk of diabetes.

Prof. Akosa says that high-calorie drinks can cause diabetes if consumed in large volumes.

“If we don’t put a stop to it, these things are going to blow up, and it is high-calorie energy drinks.”

“These energy drinks have seven calories, it is a highly dense calorific value, no nutritional value, no nutritional value at all. It is dense in sugar and coffee. And the people who drink it are the trotro drivers and the long haul drivers. It is a standard thing, every morning they put a pack of six in the car.

“You are putting a lot of calories into your system. You will get diabetes easily. We are talking about 10 per cent prevalence of diabetes. But among those who are diabetics, who are just waiting for the next visit that they were told that their fasting blood sugar is 5.7 or 6, then you know that you have fallen into the trap. So the pre-diabetics is two times the proportion that we have already,” he noted.

“So we are sitting down and allowing these dreadful diseases, and I must say dreadful diseases, hypertension is called the silent killer, and if you take two adult men above the age of 50, one is hypertensive,” he added.

Referencing research data from various studies undertaken from 1960 to 2024, Prof. Akosa said that in 1960, diabetes was 0.2 per cent in Ghana, according to a study by a scientist Prof Silas Duodu.

Another scientist, Prof Albert George Amoah, did a study in 2006, and it has increased to 6.4 per cent.

Another study undertaken among only women recorded 8.6 per cent.

Prof. Akosa revealed that a recent study on Accra civil servants recorded 9.1 per cent of persons living with diabetes.

“So we have gone from 0.2 per cent to now let me say, 10 per cent, [which is] 50 more increase and who is talking about it?” he quizzed.