BINTULU: Consumption of balanced and nutritious food needs to be given serious attention.
Bintulu Divisional Health Officer, Dr Melvin Chung Hsien Liang said although the symptoms and effects of unhealthy eating habits do not appear immediately, the tendency of these habits can lead to non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD).
This, he said, is because food is a basic need for survival hence clean, safe and nutritious food is important to maintain a person’s physical and mental health.
On the other hand, eating unsafe food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and harmful chemicals can cause illness and potentially be fatal, he explained.
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) records that, for each year, 10 per cent of the world’s population falls ill as a result of food poisoning, with more than 420,000 deaths.
“Thirty percent of deaths due to this disease (that is around 125,000 deaths) involve children under the age of five, and almost 91 per cent or 10 million deaths are caused by cardiovascular diseases in addition to cancer, diabetes and other diseases,” he said at the celebration World Food Safety Day and Nutrition Month 2022 at Farley Bintulu Supermarket grounds, yesterday.
He added that excessive sodium intake, poor whole grain intake and lack of fruit intake are the three main risk factors for nutritional imbalances that have been identified as contributing to cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes.
“Therefore, we need a holistic, multidimensional and multisectoral approach involving various parties including politicians, scientists, medical practitioners, government officials and private economic players to deal with issues related to food safety and eating habits, he said.
The celebration of World Food Safety Day and Nutrition Month 2022 themed “Safe Food, Good Health” and “Fighting Covid-19 and NCD With Healthy Eating” is the first organised by Bintulu Health Office in collaboration with Farley Bintulu Supermarket.
