Less is better: Siti Hajar Hussin preparing less-sugar drinks after the launch of the Reduce Sugar 2023 campaign at a food court in Putrajaya. — SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star
PUTRAJAYA: Sugar is a much loved condiment by Malaysians for its use in our food and drinks but also one that has become the bane of our national health.
According to the 2019 Malaysia National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), half of Malaysian adults are overweight or obese while one out of five Malaysian adults is suffering from diabetes.
Meanwhile, the rate of increase in diabetic patients nationwide has gone from 11.2% in 2011 to 13.4% in 2015 and spiked to 18.3% in 2019.
To overcome this unhealthy trend, the Health Ministry (MOH) launched the Reduce Sugar 2023 campaign here yesterday in which drink vendors are requested to limit the amount of sugar put into popular local drinks to one teaspoon or less.
The campaign saw the cooperation of multiple drink vendors at multiple food courts and food trucks around Putrajaya, which was praised by Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa in her speech.
“As it is widely known, excessive sugar intake increases the likelihood of causing chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, dental health issues and other non-communicable diseases.
“Despite this, 63.3% of adults in Putrajaya are either overweight or obese, making it the state with the largest amount of overweight people.
“Which is why we are glad that drink vendors themselves are willing to take the initiative to reduce the sugar intake among the people,” said Health Ministry deputy secretary-general (Management) Datuk Zainal Alhakab Seman, who represented Dr Zaliha at the campaign’s launch.
He said the campaign was also aimed at spreading awareness and educating the public on the high sugar content in their daily drinks, from sweet carbonated drinks that could contain up to 10 teaspoons of sugar every 500ml to the local favourite teh tarik, per serving.
He said the campaign, with the slogan ‘Sugar: 1 teaspoon is enough, less is better, none is best’, would be expanded in stages to state level and eventually nationwide.
“Overweight and obesity is a growing health issue that must be addressed as it not only affects everyone, whether it is their own health or the health of their loved ones and also future generations,” he said.
