Association Between Ready-to-Eat Cereal Consumption and Anthropometric Status Among Primary School Children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Introduction: The consumption of ready-to-eat cereals (RTECs) has been associated with lower anthropometric status as well as a lower risk of childhood obesity. This relationship has not been investigated among school children in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the association between consumption of RTECs and anthropometric status among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur. Method: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 208 school children aged 10 and 11 years were recruited from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Information on socio-demographics, RTECs consumption and anthropometric measurements (height, weight and waist circumference) were obtained. Results: The overall median body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were 17.95(IqR 6.45) kg/ m2 and 57.35 (IqR 13.00) cm, respectively. The majority of the children (73%) consumed RTECs. The prevalence of obesity was 23.1%, with more boys (31%) than girls (17.4%) being obese. Meanwhile, 16.8% of the children were overweight. BMI (U=3335.50, z=-2.278, p=0.023) and WC (U=3273.50, z=-2.440, p=0.015) of those who consumed RTECs were significantly lower than those who did not consume RTECs. Meanwhile, children who did not consume RTECs were significantly more likely to develop abdominal adiposity than those who consumed RTECS, x2(2, N=208) =7.61, p=0.022. Conclusion: Children who consumed RTECs have significantly lower BMI and WC, as well as a lower chance of developing abdominal adiposity. Consumption of RTECs indicates an overall healthy lifestyle with an excellent nutritional profile to promote healthy body weight in children and decreased risk of childhood obesity.

The Malaysian Childhood Obesity Treatment Trial (MASCOT)

Introduction: The present study describes a randomised controlled trial (RCT) based on a novel, generalisable intervention for childhood obesity, comparing the intervention with a no-treatment control group. Method: The Malaysian Childhood Obesity Treatment Trial (MASCOT) was a single-blind RCT of a dietetic treatment for childhood obesity in children of primary school age (7 to 11 years old) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The MASCOT comprising eight sessions, of an 8-hour family-centred group treatment programme is described, based on behavioural change techniques. The study sample was characterised by BMI zscore, health related quality of life reported by participants and their parents (PedsQL questionnaire), objectively measured habitual physical activity and sedentary behaviour (Actigraph accelerometry) Results: The MASCOT sample of 107 children was characterised by a low quality of life, mean total score on PedsQL 67.7 (4.5) as reported by the children, and 66.0 (16.4) as reported by their parents. The children spent, on average, 89% of their waking day on sedentary activity, and 1% of the day in moderate-vigorous intensity physical activity, equivalent to only around 8 minutes/day. Conclusion: Obese children in the MASCOT study had an impaired quality of life, high levels of sedentary behaviour and very low levels of physical activity.

Messages of the Newly Proposed Malaysian Dietary Guidelines (MDG): Do Adults in Kuala Lumpur Understand Them?

The Malaysian Dietary Guidelines (MDG) with eight key messages were first published in 1999. An updated version consisting of 14 key messages is being developed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the understanding of five key messages of the updated MDG among adults aged 18-59 years in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 773 adults comprising 330 Malays, 364 Chinese and 79 Indians were included in the study. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to obtain demographic data and to determine the level of understanding of key words and messages to be included in the new MDG. The results showed that 63% of the subjects were not aware of the existence of the MDG published in 1999. Overall, the understanding of the five messages in the updated MDG was moderate with a mean score of 60.0 ± 16.5. Between 52% to 93% of the subjects did not understand such key words as serving size, sedentary habits, blended vegetable oil and shortenings. The mean scores of understanding were significantly higher (p< 0.05) among the Chinese subjects (61.3 + 17.8) than Malays (58.6 + 14.2) and Indians (60.0 + 18.9). The younger subjects (61.2 + 16.0) scored significantly (p< 0.05) higher than the older (58.7 + 17.0) counterparts. There was also a significant association between the level of understanding of MDG with education level (p<0.001) and occupational status (p<0.001), respectively. This study suggests that some key words and messages in the updated MDG should be simplified to ensure that they are understood by Malaysians.

Nutritional Status of Children below Five Years in Malaysia: Anthropometric Analyses from the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey III (NHMS, 2006)

The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) was conducted in 2006 on a nationally representative sample of population in Malaysia. Over 21,000 children aged 0-17.9 years were measured for body weight and stature according to the protocol of the World Health Organization. This article describes the nutritional status of children aged 0-59.9 months. Mean z score for weightfor-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age were compared with the z-scores tables of the WHO standards. The overall prevalence of underweight and stunting of the children were 12.9% and 17.2% respectively. These levels included 2.4% severe underweight and 6.0% severe stunting. In terms of z scores, the age group of 0–5.9 months showed the best nutritional status with mean WAZ of -0.33 (95%CI: -0.52, 0.15) and -0.40 (-0.57, 0.24) for boys and girls respectively, while mean HAZ was 0.64 (0.38, 0.89) for boys and 0.76 (0.54, 0.98) for girls. Mean HAZ and WAZ status was least satisfactory after about 6 months, suggesting a faltering in growth rate at an age that coincides with dependence on complementary feeding. Prevalence of overweight based on BMI-for-age for the sexes combined was 6.4%, while that based on WAZ was 3.4%. The NHMS III results indicate that Malaysian children have better nutritional status compared to children under 5 years in neighbouring countries. In order to meet the targets set in the National Plan of Nutrition (2006-2015), more effective intervention programmes are needed to accelerate the reduction of underweight and stunting, and to arrest the rise of overweight in young children.

Abdominal Obesity in Malaysian Adults: National Health and Morbidity Survey III (NHMS III, 2006)

Abdominal obesity (AO) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus in adults. There is a lack of data on the magnitude and socio-demographic profile of AO among Malaysian adults at the national level. In the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) conducted in 2006, AO of adults aged 18 years and above was determined based on the waist circumference as part of the nutritional status assessment. This article reports the prevalence of AO in relation to socio-economic factors and demographic characteristics of adult subjects. Out of a total of 33,465 eligible individuals 18 years and above, waist circumference was measured in 32,900 (98.3%) individuals. The prevalence of AO was assessed using the cut-off points recommended by World Health Organization. The mean waist circumference in men and women was 84.0cm [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 83.8, 84.3] and 80.3cm (95% CI: 80.1, 80.6) respectively. The national prevalence of AO was 17.4% (95% CI: 16.9, 17.9). The identified risks of AO were women (OR: 4.2, 95% CI: 3.8, 4.6), aged 50-59 years (OR: 5.6, 95% CI: 4.0, 7.7), Indians (OR: 3.0, 95% CI:2.4, 3.8), housewives (OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.7), subjects with primary education (OR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.5) and ever married (OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.6). Being the largest population-based study on AO among Malaysians, these findings have important public health implications. There is an urgent need to revise public health policies and programmes aimed at prevention of abdominal obesity especially in the groups at risk.

The effectiveness of nutrition education programme for primary school children

This study was conducted to determine changes in nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice of 8-year-old school children after receiving a nutrition education package. A total of 418 school children from urban and rural areas participated in this study. The intervention group consisted of 237 children while 181 children who did not receive the nutrition education package acted as controls. The nutrition education programme that was conducted for 3 weeks comprised of a video viewing session and a comic reading session followed by exercise questions as reinforcement for each session, and also classroom activities. Knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaires were distributed to the children before (pre-intervention) and after (post intervention) receiving the nutrition education programme. A follow-up visit was conducted six months after the programme had elapsed. The results obtained indicated that the nutrition knowledge score increased significantly in the intervention group from 48.3±13.2 at pre-test to 54.6±16.2 in post-test and 55.0±14.3 in follow-up test (p<0.05). The nutrition attitude score also increased significantly from 68.7±15.5 at pre-intervention to 72.6±15.0 and 74.7±15.8 during post-test and follow-up test respectively (p<0.05). However, the nutrition practice score had no significant improvement in both groups throughout the study period. There were no significant changes in the control group in knowledge, attitude and practice scores at pre, post and follow-up tests. In conclusion, this study showed that a good nutrition education programme had a positive impact whereby better nutrition knowledge, attitude and healthy eating habits in children were seen. It is hoped that the improvements would be sustained throughout their lives.