Health Tips

Obesity in Malaysia

“Obesity in Malaysia has reached an alarming level”, warns MOH Malaysia.

Obesity rate increases every year. According to National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, around 50% Malaysian adults are either overweight or obese, as shown in the picture below:

Image source

BMI can be calculated as Weight (kg) / Height² (m²). Check your BMI category now!

Image source

The culprit of obesity

• Genetics

• Unhealthy eating habits

• Lack of exercise

• High amount of stress

• Not getting enough of high-quality sleep

The danger of obesity

Obesity increases risk of many chronic diseases, this includes:

1. Heart and blood vessel diseases

People who are obese are at risk of getting high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. The heart needs work harder to pump blood through your body when you are overweight or obese. Hence increases the strain on the heart. As time goes by, the arteries resist this blood flow, causing the blood pressure to rise. 

In addition, “fatty diet” that is extremely rich in carbohydrates and calories, increases risk of plaque accumulation in the blood vessel wall thus narrowing the blood flow to the heart and brain, leading to heart attack and stroke respectively.

2. High blood cholesterol

Again, increased consumption of high calories foods and lack of physical activity increases “bad cholesterol” in the blood, in turn increases the risk of heart diseases and overall well-being.

3. Diabetes

Both diabetes and obesity are associated with insulin resistance, where the cells in the body do not respond well to insulin despite over-production of insulin. As a results, the body cannot move sugar from the blood into the cells and tissues. This is probably due to the changes of body’s metabolism that is caused by obesity. Fat tissues release fat molecules into the blood, reducing insulin sensitivity to the cells.

4. Osteoarthritis

Extra weight can cause damage to the cartilage and bone in weight-bearing joints such as the knees, thus leading to injury of the joints.

5. Fatty liver disease

Fatty liver disease is categorized into alcoholic fatty liver disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Obesity increases the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This is suggested to have association with insulin resistance, and accumulation of fat in the liver tissues causing liver inflammation.

Prevention is always better than cure

If you are already diagnosed with obesity or overweight, you may talk to a healthcare professional to work out a treatment plan together. The plan will include reducing the calories intake, getting more physical activity, and adopting lifelong healthy lifestyle changes. When lifestyle changes are not sufficient to reduce weight, the treatment plan may be upgraded, which include taking medication, using weight-loss devices and undergoing surgery, if deemed necessary.

MOH Malaysia has implemented a total of 10 policies for weight management, including imposing an excise tax on sugary drinks, as well as enforcing a ban on advertising childrens’s food and beverages with high content of fats, salt and sugar.

Other than the help from the government, we can also make some lifestyle changes before it is too late. 

• Try DASH diet or 16:8 intermittent fasting

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. While it is mainly for reducing blood pressure, it is also suitable for those who would like to reduce body weight as it helps cut the calories and lose weight.

16:8 intermittent fasting is also one of the famous ideas of losing weight. It involves abstaining from your food intake and calorie-containing beverages for 16 hours per day and choosing the right, healthy choice of food during the 8 hours of eating period.

• Get enough high-quality sleep

Improving sleep hygiene helps reduce the likelihood risk of being obese. A lack of sleep can increase appetite by changing body hormones, making us more likely to consume unhealthy food and binge-eating.

• Exercise

The recommended duration of exercise is 150 minutes per week, which can be divided into 30 minutes per day, for 5 days in a week. However, before starting any exercise program, ask a healthcare professional about what type or level of exercise is right for you.

All in all

Obesity is still a major health issue in Malaysia. A lot of health diseases are strongly associated with obesity. Making lifestyle changes can be a painful thing to do, but it benefits you in the long run.

Medically reviewed by Ashwini Nair, MB BCh BAO.

DOC2US COVID-19 Services:  Free COVID-19 Virtual Health Chat | COVID-19 Home Care Plan

References:

1. Overweight and Obesity - Treatment | NHLBI, NIH. Accessed March 26, 2022. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/overweight-and-obesity/treatment

2. Al-Goblan AS, Al-Alfi MA, Khan MZ. Mechanism linking diabetes mellitus and obesity. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes Targets Ther. 2014;7:587-591. doi:10.2147/DMSO.S67400

3. CDC. Effects of Overweight and Obesity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published March 18, 2022. Accessed March 26, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html

4. Jiang SZ, Lu W, Zong XF, Ruan HY, Liu Y. Obesity and hypertension. Exp Ther Med. 2016;12(4):2395-2399. doi:10.3892/etm.2016.3667

5. CDC. Move More; Sit Less. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published March 17, 2022. Accessed March 26, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm

6. Overweight and Obesity - Causes and Risk Factors | NHLBI, NIH. Accessed March 26, 2022. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/overweight-and-obesity/causes

7. Sarwar R, Pierce N, Koppe S. Obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: current perspectives. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes Targets Ther. 2018;11:533-542. doi:10.2147/DMSO.S146339

Written by

DOC2US Editorial Team