More than 1,000 bikers in Negros Occ push for healthy lifestyle
By YASMIN PASCUAL-DORMIDO, ABS-CBN Bacolod | 11/18/2008 12:59 AM
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More than a thousand bikers pushed for a healthy lifestyle in Bacolod City.
The bikers which from different parts of Negros Occidental joined the Go Bike Pilipinas 2008 cycling fun ride Saturday.
In a message read for her at a program in front of the Provincial Capitol building, Senator Pia Cayetano said she supports the Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism cycling fun ride advocacy program to control the rising epidemic of diabetes and obesity, and to encourage people to walk or bike to work or school.
Cayetano called for a radical change particularly in the eating and health habits of Filipinos.
She expressed concern about the rising incidence of diabetes among Filipino adults, based on a survey conducted last year by the Philippine Cardiovascular Outcome Study on Diabetes Mellitus.
Citing the survey, she said 20.6 percent of adults aged 30 and above were found to be diabetic. The figure rose tremendously from the findings of a similar survey in 1998 which showed only 3.9 percent of Filipino adults to be diabetic.
Dr. Ma. Luz Vicenta Guanzon, Go Bike Pilipinas 2008 chairperson, said the fun ride was part of the World Diabetes Day celebration declared by the World Health Organization every November 14.
