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407829
Thu, 05/26/2016 - 09:58
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Obesity In Children Rising In Several ASEAN Countries - UNICEF

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), May 26 (Bernama) -- More than seven per cent of children under five years of age in Malaysia have been identified as overweight while eight per cent of children in the same age group suffered acute malnutrition. This finding is contained in the Regional Report on Nutritional Security in ASEAN by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), World Health Organisation and ASEAN. The report also said that almost one in five children in Malaysia were stunted or too short for their age and such a trend was also on the increase in several other ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Unicef East Asia and Pacific Regional Nutrition adviser, Christiane Rudert said efforts to prevent obesity and malnutrition in children must start as early as at the pre-pregnancy period, during pregnancy and the first two years of a child's life. "Feeding practices and awareness on the importance of a healthy diet for children's healthy growth must be stressed upon in addressing such a problem. "On the other hand, there must be strong policies and laws which aim at healthy eating, for example, the sugar tax imposed in Mexico," she said when speaking at a forum on 'Malaysia's Double Burden - Childhood Obesity and Malnutrition', here, Wednesday. Malaysia's Health Ministry Nutrition Division director, Zalma Abd Razak said factors leading to such a problem included unhealthy eating culture like not taking enough fruits, vegetables and milk as recommended by the health experts. "The National Plan of Action for Nutrition of Malaysia 2016-2025 Framework which is at its final stage now will focus on combating obesity in children and adults towards achieving optimal nutritional well-being of Malaysians. "In the long term, probably the Health Ministry can cooperate with the Education Ministry in placing nutritionists in schools or district education offices as schoolchildren are the best target group in inculcating a healthy eating culture in society," she said. Taylor's University School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts lecturer, Dr Elise Mognard said massive information on healthy diet could slowly help change people's eating habits. "However, the challenge in Malaysia is that a big percentage of Malaysians eat outside food at least once daily," she added. Malaysian Association for the Study of Obesity president, Prof Dr Mohd Ismail Noor said among the steps that could be taken to promote healthy diet in schools was placing a water fountain in schools to encourage the children to drink water instead of sugary drinks. --BERNAMA

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