We live in a country that is brimming with incredible food that we just cannot get enough of. However, tasty food comes with risks, and without adequate care, it might take a toll on our bodies over time. That said, Herbalife Nutrition recently reported the second part of the Asia Pacific Nutrition Myths Survey 2020* and found that 73 percent of Malaysians want more nutrition feedback from their healthcare practitioners to help them achieve their best health outcomes.
What are local healthcare professionals (HCPs) are saying is that only 16% of consumers are well informed about diet, and almost 4/5 of HCPs want nutrition companies to play a larger role in delivering accurate and credible nutrition knowledge to the public.
The survey shows that 68% of HCPs in Malaysia would proactively share nutrition advice with their patients most of the time. The main reasons that they are not able to do so all the time are due to the lack of time with patients and lack of interest amongst patients. The HCPs mentioned that only 40 patients would proactively ask them for nutrition advice.
Nonetheless, the top three most asked nutritional advice by patients are:
– How to improve ailment/condition through nutrition (74%)
– Managing weight through nutrition (72%)
– How to achieve balanced nutrition in daily life (40%)
As for areas of nutrition that patients most keen to ask are:
– Carbohydrates (36%)
– Vitamin (28%)
– Fats (14%)
This is no surprise as there is a rise in trend where Malaysians are more health-conscious during these times, with people looking for ways to boost their immune system. According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, one in two adults in Malaysia were either overweight or obese. Meanwhile, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol are among the main non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that are prevalent amongst Malaysians, which also happen to be major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) – the current leading causes of death in Malaysia.
It’s been revealed that 1.7 million people in Malaysia live with three major risk factors at present while 3.4 million people live with two of them. In the coming months, Herbalife Nutrition will be intensifying its collaboration initiatives with the HCP community through a series of multi-platform, public nutrition education and healthy lifestyle activities. The company will also be working closely with other key stakeholders and local partners to provide more accurate, timely and relevant nutrition information to communities across the region.
*The survey was conducted across 11 countries – Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam – among 5,500 consumers and 250 healthcare professionals, between March-May 2020.