Page 76 - AEI Insights 2018 Vol 4 Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 4, Issue 1, 2018

The Malaysian Malays and Swedes differed greatly in citing factors that would make them
change their eating habits. While for the Malaysian Malays, the main factors would be health
(N=64), and weight and physical concerns (N=40), the Swedes mentioned provision of new
information (N=39), health consciousness (N=37) and psychological factors (N=34) as main
reasons. Other factors for the Malaysian Malays included familial and religious concerns, for
the Swedes consequences of being overweight (N=13) and the working conditions or
consequences of these conditions. (N=12). (170 Malaysians (85 per cent) and 150 Swedes (81
per cent) answered this open question.

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings of the study show that the respondents in both samples have a high awareness and
knowledge of the risks of being overweight/obese. Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes
and depression were the most chosen alternatives. This probably reflects the results of the
Swedish public health policy on awareness-raising in the population (Public Health Agency of
Sweden, 2013). Also in Malaysia, there has been an effort to raise the awareness of the public
concerning being overweight or obese, the Ministry of Health Malaysia has organized a series
of campaigns on, for example, the importance of carrying out health checks, counseling
sessions by nutritionists and the Komuniti Sihat Perkasa Negara [Healthy Community makes
a Strong Country] program which is an intervention program for those who are obese (Ministry
of Health Malaysia, 2015; Toon, 2014). The issue of obesity remains a global problem, because
it has a significant impact on the health index, affecting development in many areas: economic,
socio-cultural and mortality/survivability of civilizations in the modern world.

The majority of the Swedish respondents were well informed concerning specific diets, ‘the
plate model’ and weight-related and weight loss terminology (BMI, LCHF, GI/GL). As many
Swedish respondents also report being on a diet for weight loss, this explains their awareness
of weight-related issues. Most of the Malaysian Malay participants knew their own BMI, but a
vast majority were not familiar with terms for specific diets related to weight loss, such as
LCHF and GI/GL. This indicates that these terms LCHF, GI/GL) are more frequently used in
Sweden than in Malaysia, perhaps because of a greater focus on diets for weight loss in the
media.

In both samples, the women tend to be more concerned and aware of health issues with more
of them reporting that they know their BMI compared to the male respondents. In addition, not
surprisingly, the respondents with self-reported overweight/obesity conditions use weight-
related diets more than the normal/underweight respondents. This reflects a general trend of
women being more concerned about their appearance; body dissatisfaction is ubiquitous among
girls and women (Robert-McComm, Norman and Zumwalt, 2014). In addition, women are in

general more health conscious than men (Arganini et al., 2012).

For Sweden, the findings reveal that the Internet and social media are important sources for
health related information and they compete with official information from Swedish health
care. As Internet access in Sweden is high, Internet resources are easily accessible for dieters,
compared to the public and private health care institutions. Furthermore, it can also be
concluded from the data that some printed information (brochures and daily newspapers) are
also becoming less attractive. Almost all respondents report knowing where to turn for
information concerning diets and exercise, which also reflects a high health awareness of
population in Sweden.

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