009/03/15

By : Veena Babulal

PETALING JAYA: A survey shows that Malaysians aged 30 and above are more likely to be obese, diabetic and suffer from high blood pressure compared with those in the same age group 10 years ago.

And the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) blames junk food for this.

Fomca official Paul Selva Raj said obesity had tripled from four per cent to 14 per cent among those aged 30 and above in the last 10 years because of the consumption of unhealthy food.

Sunday March 15, 2009

PETALING JAYA: It comes in a variety of flavours. Its attractive and easy-to-eat packaging makes children simply love them.

But do children understand that junk food or snacks like potato chips, burgers and fries have high levels of fat, sugar or salt and are simply unhealthy?

AN ALLOCATION of RM674mil has been set aside under the recent stimulus package to subsidise prices of necessities such as sugar, bread and wheat flour.

I hope this truly benefits consumers. But seeing what the prices of necessities are today, there is much more that the Government needs to do to assist the poor and those with fixed incomes, though I am glad that the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister has done much to urge emporiums/supermarkets to come real with their retail prices.

But I see some traders still have not reduced the prices of essential food items, as was expected after the drop in fuel prices.

I also agree that consumers with a monthly income of, say, RM700 and below, be given cash to help them, as we did when fuel prices shot up.

Some consumers are having a really hard time. They do not have enough cash to buy essentials.

UNITED NATIONS (March 12, 2009): The world needs to act urgently to avoid a global water crisis due to increased population, rising living standards, dietary changes and more biofuels production, the United Nations warned on Thursday.

By 2030, nearly half of the world's people will be living in areas of acute water shortage, said a report jointly produced by more than two dozen U.N. bodies and issued ahead of a major conference on water to be held in Istanbul next week.