This study aimed to identify the association of dietary patterns with sociodemographic and health-related characteristics among coronary artery disease patients. In this cross-sectional study, the participants were 250 patients coronary artery disease aged ≥ 40 years old. Data collection was done using questionnaires related to sociodemographics, health-related factors, and food-frequency intake information. Three dietary patterns (traditional, western, and healthy) were obtained using principal component analysis. The result showed that dietary patterns were associated with sociodemographic and health-related factors. According to the result, all the factors were taken very seriously when planning a promotional program for healthy lifestyle in prevention of CAD.
Hunger is complex, encompassing experiences ranging from a family's forced acceptance of a monotonous diet to individual physiological pain. I evaluate the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) as a means of capturing the universal elements of hunger without doing violence to its culturally-specific expressions within two Malay communities. The HFIAS is assessed conceptually by comparing its assumptions and concept-to-measurement gap with competing indicators and practically with respect to village conditions and practices. This case study recommends the HFIAS for this site and for communities that similarly lack maternal buffering, while highlighting the unique features of the local hunger experience.
Food variety scores (FVS) and dietary diversity scores (DDS) were estimated based on foods consumed weekly by 285 Malaysian households using a food frequency questionnaire. The scoring system of FVS and DDS was based on a scale of 0-7 and 0-6 respectively. The mean household FVS and DDS was 164.1 ± 93 and 6 ± 0.4. The age of respondents (husbands or wives; p < .01), sex (p < .05), and household food expenditure (p < .01) had a significant influence on both FVS and DDS. The food-intake pattern of Malaysian households showed that their typical diets had high protein and energy-based foods.
Although diets with high energy density are associated with increased risk of overweight and obesity, it is not known whether such diets are associated with undernutrition. This study assessed the relationship between dietary energy density (ED) and nutritional status of 745 urban 1- to 10-year-old children. Dietary intakes were obtained using food recall and record for two days. Dietary energy density was based on food and caloric beverages. Higher dietary ED was associated with lower intakes of carbohydrate, sugar, vitamins C and D, and calcium but higher fat, fiber, iron, and folate intakes. While intakes of fruits and milk/dairy products decreased, meat, fish, and legume intakes increased with higher dietary ED. Stunting, but not other growth problems, was associated with higher dietary ED. Future studies should confirm the cause-and-effect relationship between higher dietary ED and stunting.
Emergency food assistance forms an integral component of flood mitigation in Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey investigating emergency food assistance among 202 flood victims was conducted and alternative food assistance plan was developed using linear programming targeting post-disaster food requirement scenarios. From the study, the receipt of food aid was significantly associated with ethnicity, household income, residential area and evacuation into temporary shelters. Linear programming analysis identified nutritionally appropriate food assistance targeting mass feeding, emergency food basket, and immediate food requirement for as low as MYR 6.07 (1.55 USD), MYR 7.14 (1.82 USD), and MYR 8.00 (2.04 USD), respectively. This study provides nutritional guidelines for disaster food assistance policy.
This study aimed to determine dietary practices and meal patterns among Malaysian overweight and obese school children at baseline. This study was part of a school-based obesity intervention study, My Body is Fit and Fabulous at School (MyBFF@school). It involved 1045 primary and 1041 secondary overweight and obese school children from a randomly selected 23 out of 1196 primary and 15 out of 416 secondary government schools in central Peninsular Malaysia. The results showed a significantly higher of adequate intake (4-8 servings/day) of cereals and grains among primary (54.7%) than secondary school children (48.2%). About 28.2% of primary and 32.6% of secondary school children had consumed adequate fruit (2 servings/day), while a very low percentage of both primary (5.0%) and secondary (3.6%) school children consumed adequate vegetables (3 servings/day). As for the meal patterns, school children in both primary and secondary were not taking breakfast regularly (mean±SD for primary: 3.16 ± 2.61 days/week vs secondary: 2.97 ± 2.52 days/week). There was also a significantly higher mean frequency of primary school children brought plain water to school than the secondary school children. In conclusion, urgent actions to address improper dietary practices and meal patterns of overweight and obese school children in Malaysia are warranted.