Weekly Press Release of Istanbul Gelisim University (Issue 23) (November 11-15, 2019)

A study was conducted to identify the problems and needs of children diagnosed with PKU. Pointing out that the biggest problem of patients is expensive special food, the study shows the average monthly expenditure on these foods is 500 Turkish lira. One of the rare diseases, phenylketonuria (PKU), which limits one’s protein breakdown and can cause serious brain damage, affects 1 in 10,000 people in Europe. While there are over 20 thousand individuals with PKU in Turkey, approximately 300 children with PKU are born each year in the country.