There are about three million obese Malaysians and the number is increasing while there are about five million individuals who suffer from varying degrees of diabetes. Malaysia is ranked sixth in the Asia-Pacific region for obesity and tops the list in South-East Asia for both obesity and diabetes. To address this issue, the government will be imposing a sugar tax from April this year, aiming to reduce consumers’ sugar consumption.  FOMCA supports the move. Yet, tax alone will not change eating behaviours.

The World Health Organisation has been promoting taxes on sugary drinks as over-consumption of sugar is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay. Sugary drinks are a major source of sugar in the diet, and its consumption is increasing in most countries, especially amongst children and adolescents. According to WHO, taxes on sugary drinks help reduce consumption and prevent obesity.  Further, there is substantial savings on healthcare costs as diseases associated with high sugar consumption – high blood pressure, diabetes, tooth decay – are reduced.

Apart from reducing sugar consumption by consumers, another positive effect is that food manufacturers would reduce the use of sugar in their food and drinks and seek to provide healthier food choices to consumers. In the United Kingdom for example, where the announcement for a sugar tax was announced in 2016 to be implemented on 6 April 2018, some food manufacturers began to change recipes ahead of the tax so that the sugar content would be below the threshold. 

Apart from tax, the ecology of the consumer also needs be changed.  There needs to be stricter regulation to reduce the marketing of unhealthy products, especially, to children. Unhealthy food marketing should be banned on children channels and advertising time limited in the normal channels to only during the late nights. In public places such as schools, government offices, hospitals and the marketing and sale of sugary drinks should to be eliminated.

For consumers of pre-packaged foods who wish to make informed dietary choices such as identifying which foods are high fat, salt and sugar, or choosing the healthiest option from a range of pre-packaged foods – the nutrition information provided in the packaging is key. Labelling of foods need to be simplified. Government should impose “traffic light” labelling so that parents can easily identify healthy foods and foods with excessive sugar, salts or sodium. Thus FOMCA is calling for nutrition labelling that helps consumers to quickly and easily interpret the nutritional value of packaged goods and prevent diet-related diseases through healthy food choices.

Finally, there needs to be extensive mass media campaigns to highlight the risks of unhealthy food and the benefits of healthy eating behaviour.  Consumer education should be targeted at school, work places, youth and women groups and community groups to promote healthy eating behaviours and healthy lifestyle.  Clearly, apart from just taxation, a comprehensive approach need to be undertaken to promote healthy living.

FOMCA also hopes that the taxes collected from the sugary tax would be channelled to heathy living campaigns at every levels of society.

Datuk Dr. Paul Selva Raj

Secretary General, FOMCA