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Kidney Failure​

Kick Your Sugar Habit – Life Can Be Sweeter Without It!

What are Sugars?

Sugars refer to a broad category of carbohydrates that are broken down by the body for energy.

There are two types of sugar:
Natural Sugar – Sugar naturally present in food like fruits (fructose) or milk (lactose).

Added Sugar – This includes all kinds of sugar added to processed food and/or beverages during the production and/or preparation for flavour or colour enhancement.

Why are they dangerous?
Excessive sugar intake can lead to unwanted weight gain, increase risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases which includes heart disease and cancer. It also impacts dental health.

How much should I take?
According to the World Health Organisation Guideline 2015, the recommended sugar intake is limited to 5 teaspoons (25g) per day.

Making an effort to find out the hidden sugar in the food you eat can help achieve this goal and beat added sugar at its game of hide and seek.

Know Your Sugar Names

A few clues that indicate that an ingredient might have added sugar includes:

  • Contains syrup (examples: corn syrup, fruit syrup, maple syrup, rice syrup, rose syrup)
  • Words ending in “ose” (examples: fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, dextrose)
  • Contains the word “sugar” in the product’s name (examples: raw sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, confectionary sugar, white sugar, sugar alcohols)
  • Other examples of added sugar include fruit nectars, fruit juice concentrates, honey, agave  and molasses

How to read a nutrition label?

Swap for Healthier Alternatives

There are many ways to cut back on added sugar and calories with these tasty tricks!

Desserts & Sweets

There is no need to eliminate desserts and sweets completely. Indulge without guilt by swapping high sugar ice cream for healthier alternatives like sorbet and frozen yogurt. Blend with fresh fruits and freeze them for a quick summer treat.

Snack & Granola Mix

Make your own snack and granola mix, without the added sugar, at home instead of buying prepacked mix from the supermarket. You can combine all your favourite nuts, dried fruits, non-sugared rolled oats and/or whole-grain cereals.

Condiments & Sauces

Swap store-brought processed sauces and condiments, which contains a huge amount of added sugar, for a homemade version. That way, you can control the amount of sugar added to them.

Coffee & Tea

Wean off added sugar to your coffee and tea gradually by halving your intake for a week before halving it again. By gradually reducing the sweetness, your body has time to adjust to the new taste.

Check Out How Much Sugar Is In Them

No High Sugar Choices Total Sugar Content (tsp) Lower Sugar Alternatives Total Sugar Content (tsp)
1 Mocha
(250ml)
2.5 Cappuccino
(250ml)
1
2 Coffee (Kopi)
(250ml)
4.5 Coffee with evaporated milk, less sugar (Kopi C Siu Dai)
(250ml)
3
3 Chocolate milk
(200ml)
5.5 Milk
(200ml)
3
4 Ice lemon tea
(300ml)
6 Lemon tea bag, no sugar added
(300ml)
0
5 Green tea drink (250ml) 3 Oolong tea drink
(250ml)
0
6 Milk chocolate
(4 cubes, 20g)
2 Dark chocolate with 90% cocoa
(4 cubes, 20g)
<0.5
7 Vanilla ice cream
(2 scoops, 100g)
4 Frozen yoghurt
(2/3 cups, 100g)
2.5
8 Tomato pasta sauce
(1 cup, 280g)
3.5 Tomato puree
(1 cup, 280g)
2.5
9 Hazelnut chocolate spread
(1 tablespoon, 19g)
2 Peanut butter
(1 tablespoon, 20g)
<0.5
10 Butter cake
(1 slice, 90g)
5.5 Steamed sponge cake
(1 slice, 40g)
2

*Tsp = Teaspoon

Total sugar content: May contain naturally-occurring sugars and free sugars.
Source: Energy & Nutrient Composition of Food, Health Promotion Board, 2011

Click here to download Kick Your Sugar Habit Pamphlet  

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FAQ

General Enquiries

As there are limited car park lots available at NKF Centre visitors may need to park at the nearby HDB car parks in the vicinity.

NKF HQ Mondays –Thursdays
Fridays
PH / Weekends
8.30am –6.00pm
8.30am –5.00pm
Closed
Dialysis Centres Mondays –Saturdays
Sundays
PH
7.00am –11.00pm
Closed
7.00am –11.00pm

We are open on most public holidays except for the 1st day of Chinese New Year.

NKF does not provide ad hoc dialysis treatment. Our patients are on long-term dialysis treatment. You may wish to check with private dialysis centres for ad hoc dialysis treatments.

NKF does not have an outpatient clinic and hence, we are unable to arrange an appointment for members of the public. You may wish to contact a hospital of your choice for outpatient service.

Currently, NKF does not provide health report interpretation service. You may consult your General Practitioner who will be able to assist you.

Someone with kidney failure may not experience any signs and symptoms until it is too late. It is best to do a routine health screening to understand your health status better and detect any abnormalities as early as possible so that you can delay and manage the disease progression.

To know about the signs and symptoms please click here to learn more.

Decreased urination Swollen hands and ankles Sleep disturbances
Blood in the urine (tea-coloured or fresh blood) Puffiness around the eyes High blood pressure
Nausea and vomiting Itching Loss of appetite

All dialysis centres operate on 3 dialysis shifts –morning, noon and evening.

Morning Noon Evening
7.00am –12.00pm 12.00pm – 6.00pm 6.00pm –11.00pm
Timing of your dialysis schedule may vary for each dialysis centres.
Schedules
Monday, Wednesday and Friday (1,3,5) OR Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (2,4,6)

Admissions

Our Admissions Counsellor will contact you once your application is finalised. They will be in contact with you soon.

From the day we receive the application form, it will take approximately 3 working days to a week for us to get back to you if you have submitted all completed supporting documents together with your application form to us. Generally, the whole process will take 6 months for the approval.

The overall application review process will take approximately 6 months before the applicant can start the first dialysis treatment. However, if the applicant is able to provide all completed supporting documents and if there is a slot available at the dialysis centre with a right match to the time slot, the waiting time could be shorter.

Currently, we do not have status checking service online. NKF Admissions Counsellor will be in contact with the applicants regarding the status.

You may pick it up from the NKF main office at 81 Kim Keat Road, Singapore 328836 or call us at 6506 2187 to have the forms sent to you.

Means Test is used to determine the amount of subsidies each person needing care is eligible for. Persons from lower income households will be granted higher subsidies under the means test framework.

Means Test subsidies calculation is based in accordance to MOH guidelines.

Our NKF Admissions Counsellor in-charge will contact you in regards to your means test status.

The Medical Social Workers at your hospital will be able to advise you on the different type of subsidies based on your financial situation.

Kidney Live Donor Support Fund

For information on kidney donation in Singapore, you may wish to contact the National Organ Transplant Unit at Tel: 6321 4390 or email organ.transplant@notu.com.sg.

NKF’s Kidney Live Donor Support Fund covers annual health screenings and medical follow-ups; one-time reimbursement for loss of 2 months actual income of $8,500, whichever is lower: reimbursement of hospitalisation and surgical insurance premiums (capped at MediShield Life premiums); pre-transplant screening and evaluation costs for up to 2 potential donors per kidney recipient; and insurance coverage for Group Living. Policy based on sum insured of $200,000.

For more information and eligibility, please click here. 

Donation & Volunteering

You can make the donation through different platforms:

  1. For online donation: please visit https://nkfs.org/support-us/donation-programmes/
  2. Or you may like to issue a cheque made payable to “The National Kidney Foundation” or “NKF” and mail it to us at 81 Kim Keat Road, Singapore 328836.
  3. Alternatively, you may contact us at 1800-KIDNEYS (5436397) or email us at lifedrops@nkfs.org to send you the donation form.
  4. Road Singapore 328836.

Thank you for your generosity. The cheque should be issued to “The National Kidney Foundation” or “NKF”.

Thank you for bequeathing your CPF contributions to NKF. You can fill up the CPF nomination form which can be downloaded from the CPF website. NKF’s UEN is 200104750M.

Thank you for your generosity. You may like to visit the Ministry of Law’s website where you can find a list of lawyers based in Singapore. Please visit https://eservices.mlaw.gov.sg/lsra/search-lawyer-or-law-firm/

Our UEN/ Company Registration No. / GST Registration No. is 200104750M.

Please send us an email at lifedrops@nkfs.org or call us at 1800-KIDNEYS (5436397) and we will assist you accordingly.

You may email your new mailing address to lifedrops@nkfs.org , Please include your full name, contact number, old mailing address and UEN or NRIC/FIN (last 3 digits)

You may email us at lifedrops@nkfs.org to get the donation form. Please fill up your new GIRO/credit card number, donation amount and sign the form. Thereafter, post the GIRO form back to NKF for processing.

For credit card, you may wish to scan the form and send it to NKF via either of these options:

Email – lifedrops@nkfs.org

Fax – 6253 0417

Mail – 81 Kim Keat Road, Singapore 328836

Please email us at lifedrops@nkfs.org with your full name, UEN/NRIC/FIN and mailing address.

Please email us at lifedrops@nkfs.org to have the termination form sent to you. Please fill it up and send it back to us for processing and auditing purposes.

All outright cash donations to NKF are entitled to tax deduction because NKF is a registered charity with an IPC (Institutions of Public Character) status. We are able to issue tax deductible receipts for qualifying donations to our donors.

You are entitled to a tax deduction of 2.5 times the value of your donation in the preceding year.

You may sign up via our website at https://onlinereg.nkfs.org/vms/volunteerapplicationform.aspx.

If you do not have access to the internet, please call us at 1800-KIDNEYS (5436397) to have the application form sent to you. Please fill it up and send it back to us at 81 Kim Keat Road Singapore 328836.

Once we receive your application, our colleague from the Donor and Volunteer Management Department will contact you for a phone interview. After which, you will be invited to attend our volunteer orientation. This is to allow you to have a better understanding of the volunteering activities.

The minimum age is 13 years old. For volunteers who are below the age of 21, you will need to get parental consent. You may download the consent form here.

We strongly encourage our volunteers to commit at least a year so that we can better support our patients. Our programmes and activities are flexible, you can choose your volunteering schedule according to your interest and availability.

You may volunteer with us basing on your availability. We will send a weekly email to our volunteers indicating the up-coming volunteering opportunities. You can then match your availability to the activity schedule.

We have an array of volunteering activities to suit your interest and availability. To learn more about the volunteering activities we offer, please visit https://nkfs.org/support-us/volunteer-programmes/.

Anyone and everyone can join us as a volunteer. All applicants will be required to undergo a mandatory orientation session where you will gain insights into the Foundation’s cause, kidney disease as well as learn more about the volunteering activities we offer. Regular trainings are also conducted for all volunteers so that they can better perform their role.

Most definitely! We welcome schools, companies and community groups to volunteer with us as part of their Values In Action and Corporate Social Responsibility activities. Please get in touch with us on your interest by sending an email to volunteer@nkfs.org.

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All authorised procurement tenders or requests for proposal by NKF are exclusively posted on our official website. You may verify the information by visiting our official website or contacting us directly at contact_us@nkfs.org.