The New Straits Times, February 25, 2001
By Prof. Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
IN the last few months, Malaysians have been blessed with several festivities - from Christmas to Hari Raya and Chinese New Year.
Food is the common language in all these festivities - one of the beauties of multicultural living. The ugly side of these is the tendency to overdo things, especially at so-called open house ceremonies.
The threat of overeating and obesity is real. It is therefore not suprising if there are reports alleging that obesity is close to becoming a global crisis.
Prof Larry Atkinson, a professor of medicine and nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin once remarked: "The epidemic of adult obesity is a worldwide phenomenon, not just here of course, but also in Asia, Latin America and Africa, especially in urban areas".
Reportedly obesity has long plagued developed countries; more prevalent in lower income groups. It is now weighing heavily on developing countries as well.
At a recent gathering in Washington, it was highlighted that in some Latin American countries, the percentage of population that is overweight is comparable to 59 per cent in the US. In Mexico, 58 per cent of population is overweight and 23 per cent obese.
In Asia it is said to be on the rise with Chinese statistics showing 12 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women as obese. In the Philippines, it is one in 10, while in Malaysia, three men in 10 are said to be obese.
A local study in 1997 showed that out of 6,239 children aged seven to 16, from 22 primary and secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur, about four per cent were identified as obese and six per cent overweight.
Among the three major ethnic groups, the Indians are most overweight, followed by the Chinese and the Malays. Male children were found to be more obese and overweight than females with a ratio of 10:7.
Linked to numerous medical problems and premature deaths, overweight and obesity is defined by experts as a "body mass index" calculated by a formula using height and weight. An index of 25 is considered overweight, and 30 or greater considered obese.
In many developing countries, socio-economic transitions are most often cited as an important factor, what some experts term as "nutritional transition" _ namely decreased physical activity and modified eating habits.
Often, the overconsumption of sweetened and imbalanced food and drinks feature strongly in this transition with the emergence of instant food and fast-food outlets.
A case in point is a US study published recently in The Lancet medical journal warning of the link between soft drinks and obesity. It suggests that an extra soft drink a day gives a child a 60 per cent chance of becoming obese.
This finding adds to the belief that sweetened drinks can contribute to the rising trend of obesity among children in particular. While some scientists describe the finding as "enormously important" and "convincing" the soft drink industry was not convinced, citing problems with the study.
The soft drink study involved tracking 548 children aged 11-12 from public schools across Massachusetts for two school years until May 1997. All subjects were already drinking some soft drinks at the beginning of the study, but the researchers extrapolated that the effect would remain consistent for children who went from drinking none to one a day.
Soft drinks monitored in the study included regular sodas, sweetened iced tea or other sugar-based fruit drinks.
The study concluded, "The odds of becoming obese increased significantly for each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened drink". An increase in the consumption of diet soda makes the children less likely to become obese.
The government has called for a reduction of sugar consumption due to health problems linked to over-eating including obesity. Others are tooth decay and the increase in the risk of adult-onset asthma in women.
The latter is according to a report from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston based on a study of nearly 86,000 nurses whose health histories were traced for a number of years and a variety of purposes.
In children, obesity has also been linked to later development of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and arthritis.
Fomca, the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations, blamed Malaysia's high food bill on our habit of over-eating. Its president said over-eating contributes to the country's rising health bill.
Recently, with health costs spiralling, employers in the US are taking a closer look at their workers' waistlines, tackling a complicated and sensitive issue.
While companies tread softly to avoid violating discrimination laws, many are trying to promote exercise and nutrition regimens to reduce the risk of being overweight.
This is the key action that Malaysians need to take _ a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet especially at an early stage in life since, ironically, malnutrition has been implicated during the first trimester to predispose the foetus to obesity in adulthood. This is believed to be due to the appetite-control centre in the brain being programmed to overeat.
Much can be done to change the public's perception about habits that could lead to over-eating and obesity.
