By Dr Lee Ching Li, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at the School of Health Sciences, IMU University, Malaysia

Malaysians are known for their love of food, but are we actually getting the nutrients we need? When food is plentiful, the idea of malnutrition may seem illogical. However, malnutrition is a double-sided coin.

Malnutrition is often misunderstood as simply not getting enough nutrients, but the opposite also holds true – those who take excessive amounts are also considered to be malnourished. This is because the term refers to an imbalance – either too little or too much – of nutrients.

Conversely, this means that a person can be overweight or obese and still be malnourished. As one in every two Malaysians falls into this category, it’s clear that malnutrition is a very real problem and one that is often misunderstood.

To help set the record straight, let us to take a closer look at our eating habits.

Too salty, sweet, oily diet

The National Health & Morbidity Survey 2024 revealed that Malaysians consume too much sugar, salt and fatty foods, which contributes to chronic diseases like obesity and increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. It also showed that Malaysians take too little fruits, vegetables and milk, which provide much-needed vitamins, minerals and fiber.

In simple terms, the majority of Malaysians have very poor eating habits. To get us back on the right path, some simple steps are recommended for moving towards healthier, more balanced eating habits.

Choose quality over quantity

How much we eat does not directly translate into how much nutrients we get. This is because some foods are high in nutrients, which are known as nutrient-dense foods, while other foods offer plenty of calories for energy but little else, hence these are often called empty calories. These calories may get used up if you are very active, but many Malaysians are sedentary and take in more calories than they use. These excess calories get stored as fat. Over time, these fats build up and lead to obesity, invade and weaken the muscles, and increase the risk for heart attack and stroke.

The key here is diet quality, not quantity, she emphasized. This means eating a wide variety of foods that are rich in nutrients, which should include whole grains, fruits and vegetables of different colors, and lean proteins like fish and chicken.

Healthy eating starts at home

Eating habits are formed early, and children are likely to follow the eating habits of their parents and family members. As the impact of malnourishment can range from stunting to obesity and have a lasting impact on children and adolescents, it is important for parents to play an active role in ensuring balanced nutrition with a variety of foods, to support their child’s growing needs.

Make meaningful changes

It’s one thing to state your grand ambition to eat a healthier and more balanced diet, but putting it into practice can be more difficult.

Changing your eating habits is challenging, because food is not just about flavor. There are social and even emotional elements that influence how we eat, where we eat, what we eat and how much we eat.

Preparing ourselves ahead of time to manage those influences that lead to excessive intake of food and make room for healthier options. For example, eating a piece of fresh fruit with natural sugars and dietary fiber and other nutrients instead of a dessert that is high in carbs, sugar and fat; or asking for less noodles or less rice with more vegetables when eating out. At the mamak, choose a healthier option like naan and tandoori chicken instead of fried chicken and rice drenched in curries that are high in fat and salt.

When in doubt, she advised always to go back to the Malaysia Healthy Plate Concept of quarter-quarter-half (suku-suku-separuh) – fill a quarter of your plate with grains such as rice or noodles, another quarter with protein such as fish, chicken or eggs, and the remaining half with fruits and vegetables.

Basically, every action counts. By having vegetables with every meal, with some fruit for dessert, you get fiber and lots of plant nutrients, called phytonutrients, and antioxidants. These substances work together and complement each other – this synergistic effect is important and cannot be easily replaced by supplements.

Relying on a healthy support system and being kind to yourself

Meanwhile, emotional support is an important aspect that can help make your journey easier. Speaking to your family and even close friends ahead of time that you are making an effort to eat a healthier and more balanced diet, for the sake of your long-term.health; very often, family members are willing to support you once they understand.

A healthy diet must be enjoyable in order to be sustainable, and many people are easily discouraged and give up when they succumb to their favorite treat or don’t see any results.

Having a health goal, like eating a healthier diet or losing weight, is a long-term journey and sometimes that journey can be disrupted. This is only natural. It’s like driving a car – if you happen to make a wrong turn, you just need to find your way back and continue on your journey.

Staying on the journey is more important than meeting rigid goals or fixating on weight, which naturally fluctuates; instead, be kind to yourself and be patient.

Most importantly, you can start making simple yet meaningful changes at any time, and make more changes as you go along.

The company also launched the third edition of its Innovation Challenge with the Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute at Tufts University, focusing on women’s health and healthy longevity. Winners will receive development support from Nestlé Health Science and Tufts University.

Hans Manning, Vice President of Innovation and Strategy at Nestlé Health Science’s R&D center in Bridgewater, New Jersey, said the partnerships would enable collaboration with entrepreneurs to develop differentiated products that improve consumer and patient health through nutrition-based solutions.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said that they had conducted a study showing how nitrate, found naturally in spinach and several other vegetables, tones up muscles.

For the study, which will be published in the Journal of Physiology, the research team had placed nitrate directly in the drinking water of a group of mice for one week and then dissected them and compared their muscle functions to that of a control group.

“The mice that had been on consistent nitrate had much stronger muscles,” they said in a statement.

The nitrate used “was equivalent to a human’s consumption of about 200 to 250 grammes of spinach a day, so it’s a very easily obtained amount,” one of the researchers at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Andres Hernandez, told AFP.

“Well, it is if you eat spinach. For people who don’t eat their vegetables it will be more tricky,” he added.

While no effect could be seen in the so-called slow-twitch muscles used for moderate exercise and endurance, the scientists saw a clear change could be seen in the fast-twitch muscles used for strength and more high-intensity exercises, Hernandez said.

The tricky question, he said, was determining why this happened.

The researchers discovered that the nitrates had prompted an increase in two proteins, found naturally in the muscles, that are used for storing and releasing calcium, which is vital to making muscles contract.

The protein increase in turn led to higher quantities of calcium released in the muscles, Hernandez said, pointing out that “if you have more calcium released, you have a stronger contraction.”

Translated into human terms, consuming nitrates from for instance spinach increases the muscle strength available for things like lifting weights or sprinting up a steep hill.

It could also increase endurance, Hernandez said, pointing out that when stronger, the fast-twitch muscles, which fatigue faster than other muscles, do not need to contract as frequently.

This is not only good news for exercise buffs looking to improve their performance.

“The really exciting part is to go ahead and look at people with muscle weakness, with muscle diseases, and even aging, and see if this can actually improve their muscle function,” Hernandez said.

He said the research team aimed to conduct a few more studies on mice but hoped to also carry out studies on humans soon