Introduction: Cancer diagnosis may shift an individual’s food choices as well as self-esteem mainly due to the side effects of treatment, which will influence their nutritional status and perception about themselves. The aim of this study was to explore the association between dietary changes and self-esteem among cancer patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 113 cancer patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Among the data collected were socio-demographic background, clinical characteristics, Karnofsky Performance Status Scale, dietary changes questionnaire before and after cancer diagnosis, self-esteem. Spearman correlation was employed for determining the relationship between dietary changes and self-esteem. Results: Out of 113 subjects, 98 subjects (86.7%) made changes in their dietary intake after being diagnosed with cancer. A total of 58.4% and 45.1% of the subjects reported a decrease in their intake of sugar and condensed milk, while 52.2% stopped consuming red meat. The mean self-esteem score was reported to be average (29.33 ± 3.52). However, no statistically significant association was found between socio-demographic, clinical parameters, and self-esteem with dietary changes. Conclusion:The findings of this study demonstrated that cancer patients had made drastic dietary changes following cancer diagnosis especially consumption of red meat and food high in sugar. Most cancer patients had average self-esteem level. Although no association had been found between dietary changes and self-esteem level, it is suggested for more studies should be carried out to provide clear understanding of the factors affecting dietary changes among cancer patients.

Introduction: Overweight and obesity have emerged as significant global health concerns among children. Previous studies have provided evidence that children with intellectual and learning disabilities (LD) are at a higher risk of obesity compared to their peers without disabilities. Methods: This study aimed to predict body weight status of children with LD who attended Special Education Integration Program in Kelantan, located on East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Parents completed a self-administered questionnaire in Malay language, which included “Screening Tool of Feeding Problems” children’s version (STEP-CHILD) and Comprehensive Feeding Practice Questionnaire (CFPQ). The children’s body weight and height were measured to determine body mass index (BMI). Research hypothesis was tested through stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Results: This study recruited 245 subjects with mean age of 10.5±1.7 years and mean BMI of 18.5±4.9 kg/m2. Prevalence of underweight, thinness and severe thinness was 12.2%, while overweight and obesity was 29.0%. Male children with LD (β=0.109, p<0.044), older age (β=0.226, p<0.001), higher child birth weight (β=0.119, p<0.029), lack of parental modelling (β=-0.170, p=0.004), lower parental pressure (β=-0.266, p<0.001), and higher restriction for weight control (β=0.361, p<0.001) were found to predict higher BMI values. Conclusion: Positive parental feeding practices during mealtime are crucial for addressing the poor nutritional status of children with LD.

Introduction: Internet addiction is one of the major issues among university students which affected not only their academic performance but also their sleep quality and eating behaviours. Thus, this study aims to investigate the association between internet addiction and eating behavior, with sleep quality among undergraduate students at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 107 university students to obtain data regarding their internet addiction, eating behaviour, and sleep quality through a series of validated questionnaires. The Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis test had been used for the univariate analysis while binary logistic regression was the multivariate analysis. Significance was set as a p-value less than 0.05. Results: A total of 54.2% of the participants showed mild internet addiction and 59.8% of them had poor sleep quality. Severe internet addiction was significantly associated with highest scores in all the eating behaviour. Individuals who were overweight had the highest score for emotional eating. Furthermore, no association was found between internet addiction and eating behavior with sleep quality in both the univariate and multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Internet addiction may affect an individual`s eating behaviour and may potentially lead to several health complications in the future. Those who were overweight tend to be emotional eaters. Although, no significant factors were associated with sleep quality, future research should be done involving other parameters such as physical activity level, biochemical data and comorbidities.

Introduction: University students had high risk of unhealthy lifestyle habits such as being sedentary and having poor dietary choices due to higher cost of healthy food and the wide availability of fast food. These may contribute to overweight, obesity and co-morbidities. The aim of the study was to determine the association of food choices motives, physical activity (PA) level and body mass index status among undergraduates in Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methods: A total of 125 undergraduate students were recruited. Self-reported online questionnaire was administered to obtain information about sociodemographic information, anthropometric measurements, food choice motives using Food Choices Questionnaire and physical activity using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. The association between food choice motive, PA and body mass index was assessed using Spearman correlation and Fisher`s Exact Test. Results: The three most important food choice motives are religion, price and sensory appeal. A total of 16% of the subjects were underweight, 19.2% were overweight and 11.2% were obese. 21.6% of the students had low PA level. There was significant inverse association between sensory appeal and BMI (p = 0.002, r = - 0.269). Physical activity was not significantly different between BMI categories. Conclusion: Those who have lower BMI reported to have greater sensory appeal, but association between PA and body mass index had no significant difference. Future studies are required for understanding the direct impact of food choice motives on dietary quality and its association with PA motivation and BMI status for reducing the prevalence of obesity among undergraduates.

Introduction: COVID-19 lockdown has changed the eating behaviours of people, which could affect their body mass index (BMI). These changes affected meal purchasing habits of university students, depending on their household income. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate the association between eating behaviour, household income, frequency of purchasing outside meals with BMI among undergraduate students. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted among 112 undergraduate students. Subjects recalled information during the first phase of COVID-19 lockdown, which was from March 2020 till July 2020. Questionnaire consisted of socio-demography, anthropometry, frequency of purchasing outside meals, and eating behaviour using the Malay version Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). Results: About 64.3% of subjects reported purchasing outside meals 1-2 times per week. Higher restrained eating behaviour score was correlated with purchasing outside meals about 3-4 times and >4 times a week. Normal weight students had significantly higher restrained eating behaviour score [3.0(1.1)] than those in the obese group [2.9(1.1)]. Household income had no association with frequency of purchasing outside meals. Conclusion: Eating behaviour affected BMI and the frequency of purchasing outside meals during COVID-19 lockdown. COVID-19 lockdown has resulted in tremendous changes in the eating behaviour and physical activity pattern of university students. Future studies should focus on increasing the nutrition knowledge of university students, especially on the aspect of eating out.

Introduction: Children with intellectual disability (ID) have higher probability of experiencing poor health status due to their limited ability to understand and assess information about nutrition and health. Malnutrition remains a significant health problem as it is prevalent among both typically developing and disabled children. This scoping review aims to discuss the prevalence of malnutrition among children and adolescents with ID in Asian countries. Methods: The review was based on the PRISMA-ScR method. A systematic electronic search was conducted using databases namely PUBMED, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar for articles published from 2006-2019, written in English and involved studies in Asian countries. Results: A total of 255,100 article’s titles were identified and only 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria were included for further analysis. The findings revealed that the range of prevalence for underweight was 5.7%-76.3% and 28.9%-45.0% for stunting. The prevalence estimated for overweight was 3.9%-46.6%, while obesity was 1.6%- 26.6%. The body mass index values ranged from 17.4±4.3kg/m2-23.0±6.3kg/m2. There were several risk factors related to malnutrition such as co-morbidity factors, behavioural factors, and parental factors. Conclusion: This review demonstrated concern regarding the prevalence of malnutrition among children and adolescents with ID, which is high in certain Asian countries. It was varied and thus difficult to compare due to different reference standards and definitions used for malnutrition. Establishing nutrition and health-related intervention programmes can help to prevent further rise in the prevalence of malnutrition in this group.

Relatively less comprehensive web based programme has been developed for detecting risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and further impart preventive strategies and lifestyle education. Thus, this study has developed a comprehensive web based programme for early screening of risk of MCI together with education package for preventing MCI known as WESIHAT 2.0. WESIHAT 2.0 is a senior friendly website which has appropriate design interface facilitating access of older people especially with the use of touch-screen technology. WESIHAT 2.0 has incorporated four major components namely TUA WELLNESS screening tool, which is a comprehensive, online based, 10-item screening tool for detecting risk of MCI, 10-guides for preventing MCI, health diary and healthy food. Evaluation of acceptance of WESIHAT 2.0 was done among 71 people which comprised of 30 older people and 30 caregivers, chosen equally based on ethnic composition and 11 health care professionals who has experience working in the field of geriatric and 2 freelance website developer. All older people and caregivers stated that the content of website was very useful for preventing MCI, however, about 36.4% of health professionals stated several improvements needed to be done before releasing the end-product to the users. Comments given were smaller font size (27.3), addition of more pictures (27.3%), using simpler terms (36.4%) and changing certain design for better view of older people (18.2%). Amendments were made based on each comment given and the finalized website were used for a 6-month intervention programme for neuroprotection among older people who failed to achieve successful aging. It is timely for an online based approach for prevention of MCI. WESIHAT 2.0 is the first website in Malaysia which has been accepted by all older people and caregiver and more than half of healthcare professionals to prevent memory decline.