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I had the opportunity to contribute to an article on osteoporosis prevention and bone health, in the magazine Health No.1 《健康No.1》.

To optimize bone health and prevent osteoporosis, it is important to invest early, with the right lifestyle, adequate weight bearing exercise and calcium rich diet. In postmenopausal women, and men above age 50, it would be prudent to have a conversation with your doctor to have a bone health check-up which would include risk assessment and bone mineral density measurement. Appropriate supplements like vitamin D may be required in individual cases.

I had the opportunity to give a public talk, in Mandarin, for Health No.1 《健康No.1》, in May 2018. The focus was on osteoporosis prevention and ways to optimize bone health.

It was heartwarming to recognize some of the participants, as patients who I had treated in the past in Singapore General Hospital for osteoporosis and who had come to show their support.

It was a lively event and we went through numerous myths and truths of osteoporosis and bone health. Q&A went into extended time… outside the auditorium… all in all, it was a fun and interactive teaching session.

It was a pleasure to share with the public and Diabetes Society Singapore members on tips and strategies to prevent and to cope with diabetes mellitus. It was also an opportunity to hear from motivated patients on their own journey – how they walk the 10,000 steps a day, or cook their own food at home and maintaining excellent glucose control for years. I think if every patient in Singapore can take ownership of their health and have a enlightened conversation with their doctor and care provider, we will have a good chance of reversing this war on diabetes.

I had the pleasure of  speaking at the 1st Sysmex Asia Pacific Clinical Symposium on an interesting hot topic which is the link between diabetes mellitus and dementia.

Most people are familiar with the link between diabetes and retinopathy “diabetes eye problem” which can lead to blindness; and nephropathy “diabetes kidney problem” which can lead to dialysis and also the link between diabetes and ischemic heart disease, heart failure and cardiovascular death… and the list goes on… but what may be less appreciated is the strong association between diabetes and dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

In the talk, I had explored the current understanding based on epidemiologic, pre-clinical and clinical studies. There are preliminary positive findings in both animal and human studies with the use of certain diabetes drugs to improve cognitive function in dementia subjects. If proven and replicated in larger clinical trials, this certainly holds promise for a cure for a devastating disease that robs patients of their memory and executive function and in worse cases their identity and personality.