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Individual and total sugar contents of street foods in Malaysia - Should we be concerned?

Zainal Arifen ZN, Shahar S, Trieu K, Abdul Majid H, Md Noh MF, Haron H

Food Chem, 2024 Apr 10;450:139288.
PMID: 38631211 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.139288

Street foods are often of poor nutritional quality with high sugar content, in which the overconsumption of sugar is associated with obesity. However, sugar content information on local street foods is scarce. Thus, the individual and total sugar contents of 94 types of street foods in Malaysia were analysed. Compared to snacks and main meals, desserts contained the highest amounts of sugar, sucrose, fructose, glucose, and maltose. Sucrose was predominant in 90% desserts, 79.3% snacks, and 68.6% main meals. Most desserts (93.3%) contained medium to high sugar content (≥5 g to >15 g/100 g), while 82.9% main meals and 65.5% snacks had low sugar content. When comparing the sugar contents of 39 foods with other local databases, 58.3% main meals, 55.6% desserts, and 33.3% snacks contained either significantly (p
Strengthening national salt reduction strategies using multiple methods process evaluations: case studies from Malaysia and Mongolia

McKenzie BL, Mustapha FI, Battumur BE, Batsaikhan E, Chandran A, Michael V, et al.

Public Health Nutr, 2024 Feb 12;27(1):e89.
PMID: 38343162 DOI: 10.1017/S1368980023002781

OBJECTIVE: To understand the extent to which national salt reduction strategies in Malaysia and Mongolia were implemented and achieving their intended outcomes.
DESIGN: Multiple methods process evaluations conducted at the mid-point of strategy implementation, guided by theoretical frameworks.
SETTING: Malaysia (2018-2019) and Mongolia (2020-2021).
PARTICIPANTS: Desk-based reviews of related documents, interviews with key stakeholders (n 12 Malaysia, n 10 Mongolia), focus group discussions with health professionals in Malaysia (n 43) and health provider surveys in Mongolia (n 12).
RESULTS: Both countries generated high-quality local evidence about salt intake and levels in foods and culturally specific education resources. In Malaysia, education and reformulation activities were delivered with moderate dose (quantity) but reach among the population was low. Within 5 years, Mongolia implemented education among schools, health professionals and food producers on salt reduction with high reach, but with moderate dose (quantity) and reach among the general population. Both countries faced challenges in implementing legislative interventions (mandatory salt labelling and salt limits in packaged foods) and both could improve the scaling up of their reformulation and education activities.
CONCLUSIONS: In the first half of Malaysia's and Mongolia's strategies, both countries generated necessary evidence and education materials, mobilised health professionals to deliver salt reduction education and achieved small-scale reformulation in foods. Both subsequently should focus on implementing regulatory policies and achieving population-wide reach and impact. Process evaluations of existing salt reduction strategies can help strengthen intervention delivery, aiding achievement of WHO's 30 % reduction in salt intake by 2025 target.
Fulltext Street Food in Malaysia: What Are the Sodium Levels?

Haron H, Zainal Arifen ZN, Shahar S, Mohamad H, Mohd Yazid SFZ, Michael V, et al.

Foods, 2022 Nov 24;11(23).
PMID: 36496599 DOI: 10.3390/foods11233791

Street food is a major source of food in middle- and low-income countries as it is highly accessible and inexpensive. However, it is usually perceived as unhealthy due to the high levels of sodium, sugar, and fat content. However, there is little analytical data on the sodium levels in the street foods of Malaysia. This study started with a survey to determine the most frequently available street foods in every state in Malaysia, followed by food sampling and the analysis of sodium (reported mg/100 g sample). Street food in the snack category contained the highest amount of sodium (433 mg), followed by main meals (336.5 mg) and desserts (168 mg). Approximately 30% of the local street food in this study was deep-fried. Snacks from processed food (8%) contained high sodium content (500−815 mg). Fried noodles and noodle soup contained the highest amount of sodium (>2000 mg sodium) based on per serving. Most main dishes that use a variety of sauces contained high amounts of sodium. These findings were recorded in the Malaysian Food Composition Database. Moreover, this study could raise awareness and serve as baseline data for future interventions on the sodium content in the street foods of Malaysia.
Fulltext Fatty Acid Composition of Selected Street Foods Commonly Available in Malaysia

Zainal Arifen ZN, Shahril MR, Shahar S, Mohamad H, Mohd Yazid SFZ, Michael V, et al.

Foods, 2023 Mar 14;12(6).
PMID: 36981160 DOI: 10.3390/foods12061234

Despite growing evidence of increased saturated and trans fat contents in street foods, little is known about their fatty acid (FA) compositions. This study aimed to analyse the saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and trans fatty acids (TFAs) content of 70 selected and most commonly available street foods in Malaysia. The street foods were categorised into main meals, snacks, and desserts. TFAs were not detected in any of the street foods. Descriptively, all three categories mainly contained SFAs, followed by MUFAs, and PUFAs. However, the one-way ANOVA testing showed that the differences between each category were insignificant (p > 0.05), and each FA was not significantly different (p > 0.05) from one to another. Nearly half of the deep-fried street foods contained medium to high SFAs content (1.7 g/100 g-24.3 g/100 g), while the MUFAs were also high (32.0-44.4%). The Chi-square test of association showed that the type of preparation methods (low or high fat) used was significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the number of SFAs. These findings provide valuable information about fat composition in local street foods for the Malaysian Food Composition Database and highlight the urgency to improve nutritional composition.
Fulltext Innovative Approaches to Hypertension Control in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Vedanthan R, Bernabe-Ortiz A, Herasme OI, Joshi R, Lopez-Jaramillo P, Thrift AG, et al.

Cardiol Clin, 2017 Feb;35(1):99-115.
PMID: 27886793 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccl.2016.08.010

Elevated blood pressure, a major risk factor for ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and stroke, is the leading global risk for mortality. Treatment and control rates are very low in low- and middle-income countries. There is an urgent need to address this problem. The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases sponsored research projects focus on controlling hypertension, including community engagement, salt reduction, salt substitution, task redistribution, mHealth, and fixed-dose combination therapies. This paper reviews the rationale for each approach and summarizes the experience of some of the research teams. The studies demonstrate innovative and practical methods for improving hypertension control.
Fulltext 2022 World Hypertension League, Resolve To Save Lives and International Society of Hypertension dietary sodium (salt) global call to action

Campbell NRC, Whelton PK, Orias M, Wainford RD, Cappuccio FP, Ide N, et al.

J Hum Hypertens, 2023 Jun;37(6):428-437.
PMID: 35581323 DOI: 10.1038/s41371-022-00690-0