ssues & ideas

EDITOR KRISTEN HARPULA

THE DAILY VOICE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2013

7

KELC] NICODEMUS photo
East Indian sweets often contain high levels of sugar, which can result in obesity, one of the causes of Type 2 diabetes

ulture-based diabetes study

Vancouver Coastal Health will hold a new study starting Dec. 2

By KELC] NICODEMUS

iabetes is on the rise in Canada

according to the Canadian Dia-

betes Association, but certain

Asian cultures are at a higher
risk than other ethnic groups.

Vancouver Coastal Health is holding
a study starting Dec. 2 targeting South
Asian and East Asian residents, aged
20 to 39, focusing on diabetes.

Participants will receive an honorar-
jum of $50 upon taking part in the
study, which requires them to submit a
blood test, drink a sugar drink, and
give a second blood test two hours lat-
er.

Maylene Fong, an investigator with
Vancouver Coastal Health, said that
the reasoning behind the elevated risk
is not clear, but dietary differences

could be to blame.

According to Fong a big part of the
problem is the inclusion of more pro-
cessed after moving to Canada.

“Diabetes is on the rise because of
our inactivity and poor eating habits
and the types of the foods we have in
the North American diet,” said Fong.
“Lots of processed food, a lot of white
flour and bakery stuff.”

Fong thinks that conducting this
study will help South Asians and East
Asians eat healthier to prevent future
diabetes.

“Some people they may still get dia-
betes but at least it will decrease the
risk,” said Fong, who added that it
takes seven to 10 years and there is still
time for young residents to turn things
around.

“Tt doesn’t happen overnight.”

Abhirath Thakur, a Douglas College
student believes that people of East In-
dian descent are at higher risk, but not
because he thinks Canada is unhealthy.

“[It’s] because of the food we eat,”
said Thakur.

He said that East Indian cooking in-
cludes a lot of sugar and deep-frying.

“You add so much. It’s like three
hours of cooking where you add so
much oi] and so much butter,” he said.

“Even our sweets have a lot of sugar
which is why everyone likes them.”

Thakur has recently lost 25 pounds
because he switched to eating simpler
foods than the ones his culture tends to
eat.

“If I wouldn’t have started cooking
for myself I wouldn’t have dropped all
that weight.

Costco loophole allows non-members to shop

Gift cards offer a sneaky option for those without membership to benefit from low prices

By TRICIA LO

berships, some shoppers are tak-

ing advantage of a loophole in the
company’s policy to shop there without
paying membership fees.

As a UBC graduate student on a bud-
get, Keshav Kelkar misses the bulk
pricing he used to benefit from when
he was a Costco member. After his par-
ents moved out of Canada and left him
living on his own, he stopped renewing
his membership because he was no
longer buying enough at Costco.

“T calculated how many times I go
there on a yearly basis, which was two
or three times,” Kelkar said. “It didn’t
make sense for me to pay that much to
renew my membership.”

Membership cards are typically re-
quired to enter the warehouse and can
cost either $55 or $110 depending on

De high costs for Costco mem-

whether they’re business or executive
class.

But shoppers like Kelkar have found
another way to access the store in the
form of gift cards, also known as Cost-
co cash cards.

Cash cards permit entry into the
warehouse and can be used in-store,
online and at the Costco gas station in
Coquitlam. They come in denomina-
tions between $25 and $1,000 and are
reloadable at any location.

Non-members, however, are not able
to claim special discount offers or use
coupons. If the total purchase exceeds
the balance on the cash card, the differ-
ence must be paid using cash or debit.

“You can’t buy or reload a gift card if
youre not a member,” said Richmond
Costco employee Rabi Sun.

In those six months that Sun has
worked at Costco, he said he’s seen
people use this workaround on a daily

basis. “It’s very common. Some people
even come in with eight gift cards at a
time.”

One inconvenience is that non-mem-
bers often create delays during check-
out, Sun said.

“The cashiers can’t actually ring you
through right away, because they have
to call a supervisor to key in a code.”

The loophole acts as a cost-saving
measure for the infrequent Costco
shopper, but some think it’s unfair.

“If they’re doing it often and being
dishonest about it, then that could bea
problem,” said Langara general arts
student Daina Freigang.

Her family owns a Costco member-
ship but only visits Costco once every
two months, she said.

“Those membership fees are there
for a reason, and trying to cheat the
system is never good.”

DIABETES
stats in B.C.

NUMBER OF
DIABETICS IN
BRITISH COLUMBIA

MALES

2007 - 104,086
2009 - 115,162
2010 - 119, 183
2011 - 99, 663
2012 - 120, 672

FEMALES

2007 - 82,904
2009 - 93, 751
2010 - 83, 259
2011 - 97, 824
2012 - 104,103

Source: statcan.ge.ca

Senior
population
in B.C. on
the rise

Aging baby boomers are
one of the reasons the
province now boasts the
highest number of senior
ctizens in the country

By NIALL SHANNON

biggest senior population west of

Ontario, beating the previous ti-
tle holders, Saskatchewan, according
to a new Statistics Canada report re-
leased yesterday.

With almost 752,000 senior citizens
out of the province’s total population
of 4.5 million, elderly British Columbi-
ans represent over 16 per cent of the
province, a number which has grown
steadily since 2006, when 14.8 per cent
of B.C. residents were seniors.

The number of citizens over 65 will
continue to increase steadily as baby
boomers continue to retire, according
to the report.

One reason that B.C. might have an
edge over other Western Canadian
provinces is because of the pleasant
weather that it enjoys, particularly a
relatively mild winter.

“Our province is a place where
many people see themselves retiring,”
said Heather Campbell, director of
policy and research at the BC Care
Providers Association, a group dedi-
cated to helping seniors throughout
the province get access to continuing
care.

“One of the opportunities for se-
niors here is that there is a great
movement by the government to real-
ly promote ‘aging in place,’ and that’s
to be able to age in your community,
whether that’s in your family home or
in a residential facility within your
community and not having to move
out of your postal code,” said Camp-
bell

“One of the challenges is how do we
do that, is there seniors housing being
built in the community or are we put-
ting them in more remote locations
where people may be uprooted out of
their homes and out of their family
networks?”

Bee: Columbia is home to the

yg
TRICIA LO photo
Costco membership costs often not worth it for one person