| Azlan Othman |

BRUNEI’S food culture may bond people over a variety of meals but this same food culture has led to obesity in the country, highest in Southeast Asia, according to the United Nation’s International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

The Global Nutrition report last year also stated that Sultanate was ‘burdened’ with citizens experiencing one form of malnutrition which is overweight.

The Sultanate only suffers from this one form of malnutrition compared to some countries in the region which are ‘burdened’ with citizens suffering from up to three forms of malnutrition – overweight, anaemic or stunted growth.

The report noted the availability of the sultanate’s national policies on the sugar sweet beverage tax and multi-sectoral comprehensive nutritional plan.

Obesity among adults in Brunei Darussalam is the highest in the region, with nearly three out of 10 adults found to be obese, according to the 2016 Brunei National Survey on Risk Factors on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

From the study, the proportion of obesity among adolescents aged 13 – 17 in Brunei is a staggering 17 per cent. More worrying is the trend of obesity rates increasing one per cent annually for children below 13 years and studying in Year 1, Year 4 and Year 7 since 2011, based on findings from health screenings conducted in schools across the country.

While over-consumption of junk food is often associated with obesity, a recent study found links to malnutrition and stunting instead. Researchers from Helen Keller International studied on families of 745 children throughout the Kathmandu Valley, testing the nutritional effects of snack consumption.

Published in the Journal of Nutrition last week, it found a host of factors strongly associated with stunting and malnutrition.

The study found junk food contributed to nearly half of some youngsters’ diets, and those with a higher intake of unhealthy snacks were less nourished than those with lower intake, and more likely to be shorter.

Dr Atul Upadhyay, one of the study’s co-authors, told the Kathmandu Post that while fatty, sugary or salty food was internationally associated with obesity, the rates were low among those studied.

Most studies done overseas have focussed on obesity, but this is one of the very few findings, globally, that says these foods lead to under-nutrition. “It’s quite unique, in that sense,” Dr Upadhyay said. Instead, deficiencies in macro and micro nutrients such as protein, calcium, iron, zinc and vitamins C and A, were cause for alarm. Protein, considered one of the essential “building blocks” for healthy growth, was of particular concern because it was “considerably lower in high-snackers,” he said.

Another one of the findings shows, stunting among children, was just as serious as malnutrition because it does not just mean stunted growth. It also had irreversible cognitive ramifications, if not addressed.

Upadhyay said stunting rates had improved country-wide, dropping from 56 to 36 per cent between 1996 and 2016. “I would say that we have to be more concerned, and this has to be one of the main priorities of the government as well as other relevant stakeholders,” he said.