Tobacco uses and obesity are major global public health concerns, with adolescence being a critical period for the onset of these risk factors. In Malaysia, rising trends in adolescent smoking and obesity necessitate further investigation. This study examined gender-specific associations between different types of tobacco use and body mass index (BMI) among school-going adolescents. Data were derived from the NHMS 2017, a nationwide cross-sectional survey using a two-stage stratified random sampling design (N=27,497). Complex sample logistic regression was employed to assess the odds of past 30-day tobacco use by BMI category (underweight/normal weight, overweight, obese) stratified by gender. Confounders, including age, ethnicity, physical activity, fast food consumption, and mental health, were controlled for in the analysis. Adolescents classified as obese had a significant association with tobacco use, but this was not observed in overweight individuals. Male smokers were significantly less likely to be obese, whereas female smokers had a higher likelihood of obesity (AOR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.25–2.02). Specifically, female users of e-cigarettes (AOR = 1.86, 95% CI: 1.36–2.56), smokeless tobacco (AOR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.14–2.43), and other tobacco products (AOR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.05–2.52) exhibited a higher risk of obesity. No significant association was found among male smokers. Female adolescent smokers showed a greater likelihood of obesity, emphasizing the need for gender-specific interventions. To mitigate these risks, public health efforts should incorporate education, policy measures, and lifestyle promotion. Further research is warranted to explore underlying biological mechanisms

Introduction: The objective of the present study was to investigate the influences of sociodemographic factors on consumption of high-sodium foods among adults in Malaysia. Methods: Data were extracted from the Malaysian Community Salt Survey (MyCoSS) (n=1046). A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) was utilised to assess factors associated with the number of servings of high-sodium foods (nasi lemak, roti canai, fried rice, fried noodles, and fried vermicelli) consumed per week. The independent variables were sociodemographic factors. Results: Younger individuals consumed more high-sodium foods than their older counterparts. Adults with secondary level education consumed more high-sodium foods compared with those with tertiary level education. Consumption of high-sodium foods was higher among males and Malays compared to females and non-Malays. Conclusion: Consumption of high-sodium foods was common in the population. Sociodemographic factors, such as age, education level, gender, and ethnicity, play an important role in influencing the decisions of people to consume high-sodium foods.

Introduction: Prevalence of malnourished children in Putrajaya was unexpectedly high in 2016. This paper describes the study protocol for a case-control study conducted to identify the associated factors of malnutrition among children under 5 years old in Putrajaya. Methods: This study involved two phases. Phase I was ‘screening’ where all children aged 6-59 months in 118 preschools and four government health clinics were measured for their weight and height. The World Health Organization Anthro software was used to determine the nutritional status of these children. Phase II was the ‘interview’ where children from screening were sampled into four pairs of case and control. The optimum sample size for the case of stunted, wasted, underweight, and overweight were 380, 335, 318, and 308, respectively. The same number of controls were recruited. Parents/caregivers of selected children were approached to obtain data on parental factors, children factors, food intake factors, and environmental factors that contributed to malnutrition. Data analysis was performed by multiple logistic regression in SPSS version 26. Results: Screening phase successfully measured 8,261 (50.1%) children from an estimated 16,500 children under 5 years old in Putrajaya. The number of children who were stunted, wasted, underweight, and overweight were 2,105 (25.5%), 512 (6.2%), 1,516 (18.4%), and 248 (3.0%), respectively. As overweight was undersampled, the number of controls for overweight was doubled to increase the power of the study. Parents/caregivers of selected cases and controls were interviewed in their household or any other venues at their convenience. Conclusion: This protocol promises beneficial outputs to stakeholders and policy makers that can be used for combating malnutrition in children.

Introduction: Adolescent health is a priority considering they represent the future generation. Data from the Adolescent Nutrition Survey 2017 were analysed to determine the prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy, particularly calcium and iron, and the relationship with body mass index (BMI) among Malaysian secondary school students. Methods: This cross-sectional study included students aged 13 to 17 years old studying at public and private schools. Twenty-four hours dietary recall via face-to-face interview was conducted by trained nutritionists to obtain data on dietary intake. For nutritional status, BMI-for-age z-score (BAZ) was analysed using WHO Anthroplus software. Results: From 999 respondents, 449 were boys and 550 were girls. Overall findings indicated that both boys and girls had inadequate intakes of calcium and iron in their daily diet. Mean intakes of calcium (695.7±463.2 mg/day) and iron (23.4±21.0 mg/day) were higher among boys aged 16 to 17 years old. Mean intake of iron were higher among the older age groups. Majority of the respondents (boys: 94%; girls: 97%) did not meet the recommended nutrient intake (RNI) for calcium and more than half (boys: 50%; girl: 80%) did not achieve the RNI for iron. Current findings also found significant positive but weak correlations between calcium (r=0.112, p=0.001) and iron (r=0.084, p=0.008) intakes with BMI-for-age. Conclusion: BMI-for-age was related to calcium and iron intakes among secondary school students in Malaysia. Thus, intervention strategies should focus on early screening and nutrition education on food choices of high calcium and high iron contents, including iron supplementation programmes, if needed.

Introduction: This study examined how waist circumference (WC) varied across sociodemographic characteristics of Malaysian adults using a nationally representative data. Methods: Data from the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey 2014 (n = 2696) was used. In the sample, 46.55% were males and 53.45% were females. The outcome variable was WC. Waist circumference was categorised into four ordinal outcomes: very low, low, high and very high. The explanatory variables were age, monthly individual income, education, gender, marital status, ethnicity, employment status and household location. Ordered probit models were utilised. Results: The majority of males had a low WC (54.66%), and only a small proportion had a very high WC (0.96%). Similarly, a high proportion of females had a low WC (55.59%), and only 1.94% had a very high WC. Younger males were more likely to have a high WC than their older counterparts. Males who had monthly income of RM2000-2999 or RM3000-3999 were more likely to have a high WC compared with those who had monthly income of ≤RM999. Chinese and Indian males were more likely to have a high WC than Bumiputera males. For females, those who were married, widowed/divorced and Bumiputera were likely to have a high WC. Conclusion: WC was associated with various sociodemographic profiles of males and females. In particular, there were positive associations between the likelihoods of having a high WC and younger age group, higher income, Chinese, Indian, and being married. Our findings provided policy makers with better information on formulating intervention measures.

Introduction: Consumption of confectioneries is a determinant of health risk. However, how health risk determines the intake of confectioneries remains unclear. The objective is to examine how waist circumference (WC) as a measurement of health risk influences the consumption of confectioneries among adults. The research question is that do high-risk people consume more confectioneries than low-risk people? Methods: A quantitative research design with a focus on establishing a correlation between the measurement of health risk and consumption of confectioneries was adopted. Secondary analysis of a nationally representative cross-sectional data was used. The population of interest was the Malaysian population, regardless of being obese or non-obese. Analyses stratified by body mass index (BMI) or WC were not conducted. An instrumental variable (IV) approach was used to estimate the regression of consumption of confectioneries. BMI was used as an IV for WC. In the first stage, we regressed WC on all exogenous variables, including BMI. Then, we replaced the original values of WC with the fitted values of WC. Results: BMI was an appropriate IV for WC. An additional cm of WC was associated with a 0.022 unit of reduction in the serving of confectioneries per week. The negative relationship between WC and consumption of confectioneries indicated that adults who had high health risk consumed lesser confectioneries than adults who had low health risk. Conclusion: Drawing from the IV regression results, the present study highlighted that people with high health risk, rather than people with low health risk, were less likely to consume confectioneries.

Introduction: This study aimed to identify dietary patterns (DPs) and their association with successful aging (SA). Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 579 elderly subjects recruited from four states in Malaysia through a multistage random sampling method. SA was defined as having no chronic illnesses, no functional limitation, normal global function, no depression, a good quality of life and good self-perceived health. Information on dietary intake was obtained using a diet history questionnaire. Cognitive functions were assessed using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), depressive symptoms using Geriatric Depression Score-15 items (GDS-15) and a question regarding their perceived health and quality of life. Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) questionnaires were used to determine functional status. DPs were obtained using the principal component analysis (PCA) approach. An ordinal logistic regression model was used to examine associations between DP scores and SA. Results: Five DPs were identified namely ‘sweet foods-beverages’, ‘meat-vegetablesrice and noodles’, ‘local snacks-fish and seafood-high salt foods’, ‘fruits-legumes’, and ‘tropical fruits-oats’. A higher score for ‘tropical fruits-oats’ DP was associated with SA [Adjusted OR=1.59 (95% CI: 1.08-2.32)]. However, the association diminished when the model was adjusted for education level. Further analysis indicated that this DP increased the chance of SA among those with secondary education and above [Adjusted OR=2.43 (95% CI: 1.09–5.42)]. Conclusion: Tropical fruits-oats’ DP is associated with SA among elderly with secondary education and above. There is a need to investigate DPs among those with lower education.

Introduction: A retrospective study was conducted with the aim of determining the factors that affect weight loss among post-bariatric surgery patients. Methods: A successful weight loss outcome in this study was defined as achieving at least 50% excess weight loss (EWL). Eligible participants were those who had undergone bariatric surgery at least two years prior to the study. Adherence to lifestyle recommendations post-bariatric surgery, binge eating, depression, and social support were assessed. Results: A total of 51 post-bariatric surgery patients were recruited with a mean post-operative period of 3.2±0.7 years. The mean preoperative weight of 116.6±28.8 kg and body mass index (BMI) 45.2±8.8 kg/m2 were significantly reduced to 86.6±21.0 kg and 33.6±6.7 kg/m2, respectively, during follow-up (p<0.001). A total of 66.7% of participants achieved successful weight loss following bariatric surgery, with a mean EWL of 73.6±21.9% and total weight loss (TWL) of 29.4±8.7%. According to multivariate regression analysis adjusted for age and gender, pre-operative weight (β=-1.580, p<0.05) and BMI (β=-1.398, p<0.05), rate of weight loss (β=1.045, p<0.01), and adherence to eating behaviour recommendations (β=0.177, p<0.05) were significant predictors of weight loss outcomes post-bariatric surgery. Conclusion: The lower pre-operative weight and BMI, the faster rate of weight loss and higher adherence towards eating behaviour advice were potential predictors of greater EWL and thus could increase the chance of successful weight loss maintenance post–bariatric surgery.

Introduction: Sugar is widely consumed and excessive intake has been associated with increased risk of weight gain, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases, leading to metabolic syndrome (MetSyn). However, the association between sugar intake and MetSyn has seldom been studied among multi-ethnic Malaysian older adults. Methods: A total of 1,057 respondents aged ≥60 years were recruited through multistage random sampling from selected states. Anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, blood test for sugar and lipid profile were determined. Dietary intake was derived using a 7-day dietary history questionnaire (DHQ) and a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for added sugar intake. Results: Prevalence of MetSyn was 39.9%, 30.9% and 42.2% using the harmonised definition, International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII) definitions respectively. Mean total sugar intake was 40.5±32.0 g (8 tsp) and added sugar intake was 33.0±31.0 g (6 tsp). Excessive added sugar consumption at 100th percentile increased risks of high total cholesterol by two-fold (p<0.001) and triglyceride by 1.8 fold (p<0.001). Total sugar intake at 50th percentile increased risk of high blood pressure by 0.68 fold (p<0.05) and total sugar intake at 50th, 75th and 100th percentile increased total cholesterol risk by 1.7 fold (p<0.01), 1.5 fold (p<0.05) and 2.3 fold (p<0.001) respectively. Conclusion: Excessive sugar consumption among older adults showed no association with MetSyn but revealed significant associations with blood pressure and lipid profiles. Effects of long term excessive consumption of sugar on health outcomes in older persons should be investigated.

Limited health literacy is highly associated with poor health status. The concept of health literacy in public health relates to the concern that people with lower health literacy were also less likely to engage in health promoting behaviours. This is an analysis on health literacy and its associated factors among housewives and also a sub analysis of the Malaysian My Body is Fit and Fabulous at Home (MyBFF@home) study involving 328 overweight and obese housewives living in low cost flats in Klang Valley, part of a weight loss programme recruited using convenient sampling. Health literacy was measured using the Malay version of Newest Vital Sign (NVS) test with scores ranging from 0 to 6. Total score of ≤2 indicate limited health literacy and total scores of >2 indicate adequate health literacy. Descriptive analysis, chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were used to analyse the data.The mean(SD) NVS score was 1.07(1.19) with most (87.5%) housewives having limited health literacy. Factors that were significantly associated with limited health literacy were older age of 45 to 59 years old (p = 0.040), primary education and below (p = 0.001) and absence of internet connectivity (p = 0.001). In the final model, absence of internet connectivity (OR 2.61; 95%CI 1.31 to 5.22) was associated with limited health literacy. Majority of the housewives have limited health literacy and providing internet connectivity to housewives may increase their health literacy.
housewives ; health literacy ; low cost flats ; Newest Vital Sign ; obese