Nine out of ten Malaysians are not eating enough vegetables and fruits. — Photo: Filepic
A growing segment of Malaysians are becoming very conscious of their health and wellness due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and they are becoming increasingly discerning about making healthier choices in their daily lives. However, a number of Malaysians continue to face significant health challenges.
With nutrition and Nestlé so dynamically encoded together in a symbiotic relationship of sorts, it is of little surprise to learn that one of Nestlé’s main goals is to help people lead happier, healthier lives. This includes taking steps to help these Malaysians meet their nutritional needs.
“Malaysians are actually faced with what we call the triple burden of malnutrition. So this encompasses not just under-nutrition and over-nutrition but also a micronutrient deficiency,” says Wong Mei Ching, Nestlé Malaysia’s group corporate nutrition manager.
Wong has almost 25 years of experience working in the food and beverage industry as a nutritionist and actively provides nutrition training and talks with the public, healthcare professionals and nutrition bodies.
Most Malaysians are also lacking in micronutrients like Vitamins C and D, calcium, iron and fibre.
All these vitamins and minerals play important roles in human health and development. For example, Vitamin C helps to keep cells healthy while vitamin D promotes healthy bones, teeth and muscles. Calcium meanwhile is crucial to building and maintaining strong bones – the framework of healthy musculature. Iron on the other hand, is a mineral that the body requires for healthy growth and development while fibre helps maintain bowel health and lowers cholesterol levels.
“One in two adults and children in Malaysia are lacking in both Vitamin D and calcium. It is surprising because we get a lot of sunshine, but in spite of that, we do lack Vitamin D, because most of the time, we don’t hang out under the sun,” says Wong.
Nestlé achieves its goal of empowering happier and healthier Malaysians through three key pillars of the brand’s Nutrition, Health and Wellness strategy which take the form of healthier and tastier product choices; inspiring people to lead healthier lives; and educating consumers and helping them to apply nutrition knowledge.
To do this, Nestlé leverages its global research and development (R&D) capabilities and consistently undertakes product innovations and reformulations to help address specific dietary gaps in Malaysia.
In fact, globally, up to 81% of Nestlé’s most popular products are fortified with at least one of the big four micronutrients i.e. iron, iodine, Vitamin A and zinc and many of the brand’s products have been reformulated with less sugar and salt.
On top of that, to date, 30% of Nestlé Malaysia’s products are certified Healthier Choice. A Healthier Choice product is ascribed to a product that is healthier than one that is within the same category that does not have the logo.
“At Nestlé, because we already recognise these nutritional gaps, we try to address these issues by fortifying relevant products to make sure that we give our consumers these necessary nutrients,” says Wong.
Wong says Nestle’s range of fortified foods and beverages and plant-based meat replacements can help address key nutritional gaps among Malaysian consumers. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
A solution-based approach
The road to a healthier lifestyle seems fairly obvious – in fact, the easiest and simplest way would of course be to incorporate more dairy, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds into eating patterns. But this is often easier said than done.
This is why another equally viable channel to turn to is fortified foods and beverages, which provide a convenient solution to the micronutrient deficiency conundrum.
The history of food fortification dates back to 1920 and was first introduced in the United States when iodine was added to table salt to prevent goiter (irregular growth of the thyroid gland) among schoolchildren. Since then, fortified products have emerged as crucial building blocks in the journey towards incorporating key nutrients in diets in more organic ways.
At Nestlé Malaysia, fortified products for the Malaysian market are tailor-made to fill the nutritional gaps among Malaysians. A product isn’t just stuffed full of all sorts of nutrients with no sense behind its making; instead it is studied, researched and packed with just the right sort of micronutrients to meet a need. In short, there is always a reason behind each fortified product.
“Our goal has always been to nourish future generations, we want to make sure that our products maintain that high nutritional standards. So at the beginning, nutritionists in the organisation would have discovered – what are the nutrients that are lacking? And is there an opportunity for us to make a impact?
“We don’t want to be producing products just for the sake of doing it; we really want to give meaning to it in the sense that we are giving you what you really need. So it is not about us just simply taking any sort of nutrients and dumping it in without any thought or process,” says Wong.
So where can you find these fortified products? Well, you might be surprised to learn that many familiar favourites are fortified with key nutrients. Products like Milo and Nestum for instance are fortified with calcium and Vitamin D to ensure that people get these important nutrients. EveryDay milk powder meanwhile is added with calcium, Vitamins C and D while Nespray full-cream milk powder is packed with 15 vitamins and minerals. The brand’s breakfast cereal range on the other hand, is fortified with iron and B vitamins.
But the attention isn’t also entirely on nutrient enhancement at the expense of taste. According to Wong, Nestlé works very hard to ensure that there is no compromise when it comes to the final taste outcome of these fortified foods and beverages.
“We take a lot of time to go through the nutritional gaps, but at the same time, we also want to make sure that the familiar taste that our consumers want remains. So there are challenges to it, but together with our wide global R&D support, we are able to give better, more nutritious products while maintaining the good taste that consumers are familiar with,” says Wong.
Nestlé also empowers healthier communities through its various health and wellness programmes, including its Milo Sports Programme, Putra Community Nutrition Ambassador Programme and the Nestlé Omega Plus Walk A Million Miles event, among others.
Nestle Omega Plus has been championing heart health awareness for over 20 years, bringing issues affecting heart health, including high cholesterol to the forefront. — Nestle Malaysia
Embracing the plant-based lifestyle
In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the benefits of a plant-based diet. In fact, according to Rakuten Insight’s 2021 report on plant-based food alternatives, 68% of Malaysian respondents have consumed plant-based alternatives to animal-based food products.
The health benefits of adopting this diet are numerous and have been well-documented.
“I think generally a diet that is based on plant-based foods is healthier because we are talking about getting your nutrients from vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes with few meat options.
“If you are looking at this kind of diet, it will give you more vitamins, minerals and even phyto-nutrients (antioxidants) and also fibre. Not only that, plant-based foods are cholesterol-free. And studies have shown that people who follow a plant-based diet like vegetarians or vegans have a reduced risk of heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension and even certain types of cancer,” says Wong.
According to Wong, data shows that nine out of 10 Malaysians are not consuming enough fruits and vegetables, so chances are high that most of us are in the majority, as opposed to the minority who do get enough greens.
So the best and most obvious way to incorporate more plant-based options into daily meals is to level up. If you’re having a spinach stir-fry, take an extra helping. If you’re eating an apple, eat two instead!
Another option? Incorporate more alternative proteins into your diet. Nestlé’s halal-certified Harvest Gourmet range of products for example offers a variety of plant-based meat replacement options in the ilk of nuggets, minced ‘meat’ and burger patties, to name a few. The main ingredients in the range are soy and wheat with different types of fruit and vegetable concentrates added to make up the structure.
“The Harvest Gourmet product range is also high in protein and has a good source of fibre and is cholesterol-free because it is plant-based. So these are options for people who want to eat more plant-based meals and are looking beyond natural fruits and vegetables,” says Wong.
