Malaysia is now the fattest
country in SE Asia, says Liow
By NICHOLAS CHENG
nicholascheng@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is the
fattest country in South-East Asia with its obesity rate on the rise, says Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
“This is not a glorious title.
We are outweighing our Asean neighbours and number six in the whole of Asia –
behind some Middle Eastern countries,” said the Health Minister.
Citing statistics from the
National Health and Morbidity Surveys, Liow said 15.1% of Malaysians aged 18
and above were suffering from obesity as of 2011.
“This is an increase from the
14% figure of the same demographic in 2006,” he pointed out.
It was also reported that over
2.6 million adults were obese while over 477,000 children below the age of 18
years were overweight.
Liow said the rate of Non-Communicable
Diseases (NCD) such as diabetes, cancers and cardiovascular problems had also
increased dramatically among Malaysians.
“This exciting era of
electronic gadgets and instantaneous communication is actually a double-edged
sword,” he said.
“We are increasingly becoming
couch potatoes; we are not leading an active enough lifestyle to prevent
ourselves from becoming obese, which is a precursor to many health problems,”
he said at the launch of “Healthy Lifestyle With Skipping” programme in Hotel
Istana yesterday.
Liow said the programme, in cooperation
with the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja and Nestle, was to
promote skipping as a sports activity.
“Skipping for about one minute
burns approximately 11 calories.
“Skipping non-stop for about
four minutes can burn the equivalent number of calories in a glass of teh tarik,” he said.
The programme’s organising chairman
Mohd Ajmal Khan Ahmed Maideen said the ministry had given a RM100,000 grant
through MySihat for the project.
“We currently have 100,000 skip
ropes which will be distributed to around 200 schools nationwide and we will
work with the schools to ensure that the ropes are utilised. We also plan to
have skipping competitions, culminating in a mass rope skipping event in
Dataran Merdeka this September,” Mohd Ajmal said.
Other project partners include Schenker Logistics
(Malaysia) Sdn Bhdand GB Rope Skipping Centre.