24-hour eateries blamed for obesity woes

KUALA LUMPUR: Twenty-four hours eateries are largely to be blamed for Malaysia having the highest obesity prevalence in Southeast Asia.

This was based on Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Tackling Obesity in Asean recent report, which covered Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam for the past year.

The report stated that the prevalence of obesity in Malaysia was at 13.3 per cent, while being overweight was at 38.5 per cent.

University of Malaya senior lecturer Dr Sareena Hanim Hamzah, who is also a sports nutritionist, said the habit of consuming late-night meals among many Malaysians was among the contributing factors.

“At night, people should consume less and snack healthy.

“We should eat less at night but that doesn’t happen when there are 24-hour eateries everywhere, especially in the urban areas.

“Peers as well as social and environment factors also contribute to this issue,” she told the New Straits Times.

Dr Sareena said sedentary lifestyles and lack of physical activity had become a habit of many Malaysians.

“Other factors include high calorie intake, high carbohydrate, high sugar, high fat, high cholesterol and high salt food.

“All the above can be found in processed food and also in oily food common here,” she said.

She said the energy requirement of a person depended on a few factors, including age, gender and physical activity level.

The more active a person is, the more energy he will need.

“But what normally happens is that they eat more, but do less physical activity.

“One’s lifestyle needs to be altered to achieve a healthy life,” said Dr Sareena.

She said the government, sports organisations and educators had done a lot to create awareness and this had resulted in many running events in the country.