It is no secret that Malta has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the European Union, while at the same time having the most sedentary life in terms of not getting enough exercise.

Needless to say, this also gives us some of the highest obesity rates in the world. When we couple this with the fact that we all like a drink or two, it is - pardon the pun – a deadly cocktail.

Essentially, we have a high fat intake, little exercise and very high sugar consumption through alcohol and bread – that’s right, carbohydrates are sugars and when consumed in large doses, this leads to diabetes.

On the back page of this issue, we delve into the policy levels on a European and a local level. But the truth of the matter is that it is all a question of lifestyle. While the European Commission is still in the throes of debating the issue of nutritional labelling for alcohol, we also have to ask the question, will it really make a difference?

To the discerning consumer, it will. For example, many fruit juices contain absurdly high levels of sugar – almost comparable to carbonated soft drinks. All one needs to do is look at the label, and it is easy to establish that the sugars in many supposedly healthy drinks are nothing more than added sucrose, or the very sugary corn syrup – which is just as bad a sucrose when put into drinks in large amounts.

Then there is, of course, the issue of sugar free drinks, which are loaded with artificial sweetners such as saccharin or aspartame. If you don’t think these do any harm to you, just wet a boiled sweet which is loaded with it and put it outside... insects will not go anywhere near it.

Food nutrition labels do help a person to monitor what they are putting into their bodies, but the cold stark fact is that unless you know what you are actually looking for, you might as well label it with double Dutch, as people do not know the ins and outs of nutrition. Fruit concentrate and fruit juice, for example, are two very different things. Fruit drinks with fructose or sucrose are also very different things. And then, of course, there are also ethical issues such as the addition of palm oil – which contributes heavily to deforestation and the loss of orang-utan habitat, but that is a subject for another day.

Diabetes can also affect athletes through the consumption of too many carbohydrates (think footballers and pasta here). The only way to truly keep it at bay is to monitor what you eat and balance all meals with healthy portions of vegetables and a drastic cut in sugar intake (most particularly the added type). All alcohol contains sugar, it is part of the fermentation and brewing process. Moderate consumption and thoughtfulness in what one is drinking can also make a very big difference. Having a glass of red wine with dinner, or a beer after a training session is one thing, but downing shot after shot of vodka and energy drinks (apart from the other side effects) will most definitely contribute to high blood sugar levels.