For a healthy nation, focus on nutritious diet, tackle product prices

APART from our concern about the adverse effects of Covid-19 on public health, our prime deliberation should also be on promoting a healthy lifestyle to avoid high-risk diseases, primarily by prioritising the nutrition in our country’s food and beverage (F&B) supply.

Shockingly, Malaysia has the highest rates of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Southeast Asia. The Global Burden of Disease Study estimates that “dietary risks” for NCDs are 14.6 per cent, and “high body mass index” accounts for 9.9 per cent of disability-adjusted life-years in our country.

Despite government plans such as the National Plan of Action for Nutrition of Malaysia 2016–2025 and industry self-regulation, our country needs a high level of commitment from F&B companies to improve product and population nutrition.

According to research by the Global Obesity Centre, the nutrition commitments of major F&B companies such as Nestle, Dutch Lady and other companies were inadequate, generally ambiguous and unspecific.

In particular, some of them have overlooked the need to include specific targets for nutrients of concern, such as sugar and sodium reduction. Although some position a high commitment, it is still insufficient as it is only for selected products and not for all products or product ranges.

Thus, this requires the government’s role to emphasise continuous monitoring of the move towards healthier features and to track progress to ensure relevant parties walk the talk. As for longterm improvement, our country will need strong regulations to magnify the effort of the F&B industry and continually improve its quality.

Malaysia was dubbed the “fattest” in Asia for the first time in 2014 and has held the record ever since, which warrants in-depth review and analysis of the strategies outlined in the various policies to prevent it from continuing.

In the pandemic era, the Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19 also transformed the lifestyle of the people. Food was taken without any dietary considerations. Households with income not impacted by the Covid-19 crisis abandoned healthier food choices, especially during self-isolation.

The United Nations Children’s Fund and United Nations Populations Fund have noted that the peculiar rise in the consumption of eggs, rice and instant noodles among poor urban dwellers during the MCO is an indicator of poor nutrition exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis.

The greatest obstacle in promoting healthy and nutritious food is not just about the supply alone, as high cost is also a disincentive to people’s willingness to move to a healthier diet, followed by taste and habit.

According to Food Industry Asia, a non-profit organisation that discusses complex issues in the food industry, nearly all Malaysians are interested in a healthy diet, but 71 per cent identified cost as a critical barrier to achieving it. High demand for healthy food should be met by increased supply, which will effectively help lower the price under the demand and supply rule.

To accelerate the progress of F&B companies in enhancing the nutrition of their products, more financial incentives from the government would be useful in encouraging research and development into new healthy products.

What is clear is that the challenges F&B companies are facing, such as financial, research and development and lack of technical knowledge, should be eased by the authorities to help them move towards providing more healthy products.

In addition to large-scale promotion of a healthy diet, the government should resolve the issues that stall people’s intention to adopt better diets, such as cost, which is the primary concern of the low-income group, or perhaps provide the necessary aid.

Professor Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a senior adviser of Khazanah Research Institute, stated that if we want to secure enough healthy food for the nation, we need to take care of our farmers and their income, which will have positive implications for food security in the country.