DEPUTY Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said overweight and obesity cases are increasing at an alarming rate in the country.

Based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey, conducted every four years, 50.1% of Malaysians were overweight and 19.7% were obese in 2019.

“This means that one in two adults is overweight. As for children, 30% of those aged 5 to 13 are obese,” said Noor Azmi.

“The government is concerned that this issue will worsen. Being overweight can increase the risk of getting chronic and non-communicable diseases.”

He said the same study conducted in 2015 showed that only 29.4% of Malaysians were overweight and 15.1% were obese.

This proves that the issue is becoming more serious, he added.

Noor Azmi said initiatives have been made to address the issue, including collaborating with food and beverage companies to encourage the production of products that meet set nutritional criteria, as well as impose excise duty on sugary drinks.

Apart from that, he said, public literacy on health is also important to fight the problem of obesity.

All levels of society should play their role in reducing the rate of obesity in the country, he added. – Bernama, March 25, 2022.