HERE is a grim Malaysian tale. One in two adult Malaysians are overweight or obese, the 2023 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) reveals.
To be exact, it found 54.4 per cent of Malaysians battling with the bulge. Since 2011 (44.5per cent), it has been rising in four year cycles: 2015 (47.7 per cent) and 2019 (50.1 per cent). That is a seriously high rate.
What is worrying is that the rate is expected to rise further. Being overweight or obese means being susceptible to a series of ailments: diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
Are Malaysians losing the willpower to stay away from instant eats and overprocessed food? Given the size of the Malaysian bulge, it is that and more.
Overeating dangerously unhealthy food — which seems to be everywhere these days — is one. Add to this the growing sedentary lifestyle among the young and old, then girth is no longer a matter of mirth. It is a sign of serious health risks.
Public health officials are rightly worried. So must Malaysians. In a 2017 study by The Economist Intelligence Unit, Malaysia's total cost of obesity as a percentage of healthcare spending was 19.36 per cent, the highest in the Asean region.
Malaysia's total cost of obesity as a percentage of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) was again an Asean table topper at 0.80 per cent. To put the economic impact in monetary terms, obesity had cost the country between US$4 and US$7 billion.
The World Obesity Foundation, a network of national and regional organisations dedicated to fighting obesity, warns that if this trend continues the economic impact to the country by 2060 will be a humongous US$104.55 billion, equivalent to US$2,505 per capita or four per cent of the GDP.
The economic impact of obesity reminds us of the wisdom of the ancient adage: prevention is better than cure. Treatments are necessary because obesity has reached an unhealthy level.
But more attention is needed on preventive measures. The Health Ministry's plan to grade products on the amount of sugar they contain is a good one. So was the 40 sen excise duty per litre on sweetened beverages introduced on July 1, 2019.
While acknowledging the causes of obesity to be many — diet being one key factor — the preventive net needs to be cast wider to include smart food policies that compel food companies to make their products healthier. Placing the onus on individuals to go on a healthy diet is logical, but the NHMS is saying that the strategy isn't working. Other levers must be pulled by policymakers to prevent obesity from overwhelming us.
To be sure, there will be unbridled free market economists making all the wrong noises on behalf of the peddlers of unhealthy food. To them, the invisible hand of the free market will kill them off in the long run. Fat chance.
As British economist John Maynard Keynes put it, "the long run is a misleading guide to current affairs" because "in the long run we are all dead". What good is our public health officials' advice to us to eat healthy food, when even the cafes in hospitals serve junk food? Smart food policy means caveat venditor, not caveat emptor.