PETALING JAYA: Delayed health checks, easy access to sugary foods and limited awareness among children are some of the possible reasons why diabetes rates in Malaysia have not declined, according to experts.<\/p>\n
This is despite ongoing efforts to address the problem over the years, such as increasing the sugar tax and reformulating beverage products to contain less sugar.<\/p>\n
Federation of Malaysian Consu\u00admers Associations chief executive officer, Dr Saravanan Thambirajah, said that affordability and accessibility remain major challenges to adopting a healthier diet.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealthier options such as fresh fruits, vegetables and lean proteins tend to be more expensive, particularly in lower-income communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is partly due to supply-\u00adchain issues, lack of incentives for healthy food vendors and the prevalence of calorie-dense street food culture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Diabetes Malaysia president, Prof Dr Muhammad Yazid Jalaludin, said that despite years of awareness campaigns, diabetes continues to rise because lifestyle change is never easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany Malaysians face barriers such as busy urban routines and limited healthy options,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To reduce diabetes rates, Prof Muhammad Yazid, who is also Universiti Malaya Faculty of Medicine\u2019s undergraduate deputy dean, said Malaysia needs a whole-of-society approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes stronger policies on sugar reduction, subsidies for healthy foods and better urban planning to encourage physical activity. \u201c<\/p>\n
Malaysian Medical Association president Datuk Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo said many Malaysians only begin to adopt healthier habits after being diagnosed with a non-communicable disease or after experiencing a major health scare.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany Malaysians have also been putting off health screenings, but all should make it a point to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly detection and intervention can make a significant difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Medical Practitioner Coalitions Association of Malaysia former president Dr Raj Kumar Maharajah said many people prefer to remain in denial about their health.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, many Malay\u00adsians have low health literacy and awareness of diseases and their complications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Consumers\u2019 Association of Penang president Mohideen Abdul Kader said diabetes in Malaysia was expected to continue to rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is due to the typical Malaysian diet and lifestyle \u2013 a diet high in saturated fats and refined carbohydrates, both of which have detrimental effects on metabolism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mohideen urged the government to impose a higher tax on restaurants serving fast food and to ban the use of high fructose corn syrup \u2013 an unhealthy substitute for refined sugar \u2013 in food.<\/p>\n
Dr Raj Kumar said insurance premiums should also be reduced for those who lead healthy lives and are free from disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PETALING JAYA: Delayed health checks, easy access to sugary foods and limited awareness among children are some of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[103,61,60,9338,446],"class_list":{"0":"post-136742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-na","12":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}