Diabetes tip. With Singapore waging war on diabetes, it is no secret that we Singaporeans are becoming a lot more conscious of our daily sugar intake. Severe diabetics suffer several maladies such as kidney failure, blindness, and foot problems.

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Hence, in coffeeshops and hawker centres, we often resort to the ubiquitous bottle of mineral water as the safest bet. But you should really consider another option. In the form of “ice kosong”. Or plain ice water. Why? For several reasons.

The first is that it is the cheapest non-sugared drink in coffeeshops, hawker centres and food courts. Cheaper than even a cup of black unsweetened coffee or tea. The average price range of an ice kosong is from 30 cents to 50 cents in these eating places.

It is definitely cheaper than a bottle of mineral water which usually costs more than a dollar in these same food venues. Let’s say you eat out twice a day in these places. A rough simple calculation will tell you that you stand to save about two dollars daily. Which may not seem a lot until you sum things up on a monthly basis. That savings of about $60 may just be enough to pay off your monthly phone bill?

Plus, by cutting down dramatically on the consumption of these bottles of mineral water as a nation, we can literally avert thousands or even millions of these empty plastic bottles from ending up in the sea or landfill. All it takes is for this trend of switching from mineral water to ice kosong, to pick up and become widespread. Imagine the tremendous impact this trend can have on the environment.

What’s more is that most coffeeshops and hawker centres often serve pre-boiled tap water in these ice kosongs. In other words, this will surely assuage anyone’s fear of drinking water straight from the tap. Even though it is a well-known fact that Singapore’s tap water is highly potable.

This article has been verified medically by Dr Matthew Tan Zhen-Wei, an endocrinologist at Dr Matthew Tan Diabetes and Endocrine Care in Farrer Park Hospital (Singapore).