Obesity among Malaysian
Obesity among Malaysian
Overweight and obesity are growing health problems both worldwide and in Malaysia due to such lifestyle changes as decreased in physical activity, increased sedentary behaviour and unhealthy eating habits. Recently, Malaysia’s Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam warned that the country is facing an obesity epidemic and just over half of the population is either overweight or obese. According to the latest estimates from the World Health Organisation (WHO), almost 14% of the country’s citizens fall under the ‘obese’ category. A further 40% are overweight and in the last 45 years, fat and sugar intake has increased by 80% and 33% respectively. National Health & Morbidity Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health in 1996 reported that 16.6% of Malaysian adults were overweight and another 4.4% were obese. That is, 1 in 5 adults were either overweight or obese. The report also revealed a disturbing scenario where there was little difference in the prevalence obesity between the urban and rural populations. Ten years later, the National Health & Morbidity Survey conducted in 2006 revealed that some 29% of adult Malaysians were overweight and 14% were obese. In short, 43% of adult Malaysians, or 2 in 5, were now either overweight or obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) has projected that by 2015 approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese.
I think it is safe to say that we Malaysian consume too much unhealthy foods. Then again, we can’t blame anyone because our foods are delicious. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is generally used to classify an adult population as underweight, overweight or obese. Body Mass Index (BMI) 25.0 for overweight and BMI 30.0 for obesity. The normal BMI range lies between 18.5 and 24.99. The BMI is calculated by a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of his or her height in metres. BMI values are independent of age or gender. In a recent study, it is shown that Malaysia has the most overweight and obese population among ASEAN countries. Overweight and obesity cut across gender and age beyond all racial and ethnic backgrounds. The health problems linked to overweight and obesity are numerous. Obesity contributes to an individual's health by increasing the risk of stroke, diabetes, coronary heart disease and even cancer. Obesity is one of the single greatest risk factors for hypertension and heart disease, increasing the risk for each by a factor of five. The link between obesity and Diabetes mellitus type 2 is also well established. Diabetes mellitus type 2 is a chronic condition that affects the way your body metabolizes sugar (glucose), your body's important source of fuel. In other words, obesity can cause death. Among deaths linked to obesity, more result are from cardiovascular disease than from any other cause. Scientific evidence clearly indicates that being obese is associated with increased mortality, the impact of being overweight but not obese is less certain. Some studies have indicated that people whose weight is in the overweight range have a slightly higher risk of death than those in the normal weight range. Since being obese can be associated with a lot of health problems. People who are obese or overweight have higher health care costs than those of normal weight and health care expenditures increase as the severity of obesity increases. Obesity is associated with increased risk of a variety of diseases that can cause continuous health impairment and require long-term treatment, such as diabetes, asthma, and osteoarthritis. The costs of treating these diseases are substantially high. Obesity is also associated with increases in cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension and abnormal levels of blood lipids. An individual’s likelihood of dying from cardiovascular disease can be reduced if these risk factors are identified and treated immediately, but diagnosis and treatment involve substantial costs for physician visits, diagnostic tests, medicines and etc. Other than that, obese people have more difficulty staying employed and leading independent lives. Let’s face it, when you’re overweight it’s harder to do things especially daily activities. A study indicated that people who are obese are more likely to experience disability affecting activities of daily living. This not because they are lazy, they simply cannot carry out that particular work due to their current condition. Obesity can also have emotional and psychological burden that can be severe, with many of those afflicted suffering from body image issues, guilt and isolation.
There are many causes of obesity that have been identified. One of them is genetics. More than a century’s worth of research has shown that there is a significant link between obesity and genetics. If one’s parent is obese, the risk of developing obesity significantly increases. Moreover, if obesity is present during the early stage of childhood, chances are that individual will remain obese for the rest of their life. Studies indicated that a person’s BMI can be contributed to genetic influence with 75% chance that a child with two obese parents will be overweight and 20-50% chance for a child with one obese parent. Another important consideration in the development of child obesity is the weight of the mother during the time of giving birth. The weight of the mother predicts the weight of the new-born and the weight of the new-born also may predicts the weight of the child. Another factor and the most straightforward one is diet. An individual’s diet has been the growing issue relating to obesity. For decades, there has been an increasing amount of effort put into the health and wellbeing of Malaysian with little focus on teaching of good nutritional practices. The amount of food that one eats depends on certain factors. These factors are included below:
- Food Deprivation
- Sleep
- Prior Experiences
- Oestrogen Levels
- Accessibility
- Perceive calories
- Celebratory events
Usually we stop eating when we feel full in our stomach because we have ingested sufficient amount food. This called satiety. Lack of satiety can prevent individual from compensating for the food ingested. This can lead to a higher total caloric intake overall. Over time, this can lead to significant weight gain. Another major factor contributing to obesity is the lack of exercise. Many people don’t know this but, calories imbalance is one of the most important factors relating to obesity. Being overweight and obese result from an energy imbalance caused by eating too many calories and not getting enough exercise. Caloric balance and body weight are generally maintained by balancing calories consumed against calories used by normal bodily functions and exercise. Thus, by consuming as many calories as expended and vice-versa, a person’s weight will remain stable. Obesity results if the food intake exceeds physical activity and an abnormally large amount of energy is stored within the body. Basically, the more you eat and the less exercise you do, the fatter you will get. The increased popularity sedentary activities such as watching TV and playing games on mobile devices also results in increasing of obesity. People with lower income tend to consume high fat, energy dense diet because it is more affordable than healthier comprised of lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables. Let’s face it, all the delicious foods are usually not healthy to a certain point at least. The typical Malaysian diet itself isn’t healthy. During breakfast we eat nasi lemak, that itself shows how unhealthy we are. Malaysian buy it because it is convenient as well as delicious. Studies have shown that diets based on energy-dense foods are less satisfying, nutrient deficient and may lead to passive overeating. In general, healthier food are more expensive than unhealthy foods. On the other note, people who has two or more careers at the same time contributes to unhealthy lifestyles due to lack of time and leads to obesity. Households with both working parents tend to eat out in restaurants and fast food outlets or stalls for reason of convenience and timesaving. Malaysia has experienced rapid economic development in recent decades leading to increased urbanization, affluence, and changes in lifestyles and nutritional status of the population. It is reported that urbanization exerts a strong social impact on the diet of people. Urban dwellers tend to eat away from home.
Although that obesity can be really difficult to overcome but it is not impossible. Everything is possible if you put the work in it. The first step in overcoming obesity is changing your diet. This probably the last thing people might want to do because of how hard it is to maintain. For starters, people can try cutting out sugar-sweetened beverages such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, Ice Lemon Tea and other can drinks. These types of drinks contain high levels of sugars thus, it can cause obesity. Decreasing the consumption of fast foods can also help prevent obesity. It is known that fast foods like burgers, fries, hotdog and etc, contains high amounts of fat. Try to avoid greasy foods and consume more wholesome food like lean meats, vegetables, fish, fruits, and foods that are mostly organic and not processed ones. If you want to be healthy, you must also be active. The important thing is you do physical activities that you enjoy as long as that particular activities makes you sweat. It is advised to at least exercise 3 times a week. Make sure you drink a lot of too to stay hydrated. 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity is advisable.
References:
WHO (2008). Obesity: Preventing and imaging the global epidemic. Report of a WHO consultation on obesity. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Chang, CT, Chang, KH & Cheah, WL (2009). Adults' perceptions of being overweight or obese: a focus group study. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 18(2), pp 257-264.
https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/aspe-childhood-obesity-white-paper#_ftn91