ALL drinks containing sugar will from now on be barred from functions officiated by Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman.
Daud took this stand yesterday in support of a government campaign to reduce sugar intake since December last year.
He reasoned that since food itself had some sugar content, it would be best to eliminate sugar in drinks and requested that organisers of his functions would abide by this.
“I do not put sugar in my drinks when I’m at home so I have developed taste buds that are sensitive to sweetness so much so that when I attend functions, I find it hard to consume drinks there,” he said when launching a two-day sugar intake reduction campaign for Kuching city at Choicemall Ria Semariang here.
He hoped that other government functions would follow suit to inculcate the habit among the people.
A participant of the campaign, Robert Jimbai, 49, lauded the minister’s move to promote sugar intake reduction in society, saying that he had not come across many top figures making such a strong stand.
He said the campaign was timely as the rate of illness because of sugar intake was rising among the people.
“I just checked my sugar level and lucky for me, I’m still in the safe zone but this does not mean that I can just eat anything how. The scary part is that, the disease is picking up fast among the young,” he told StarMetro.
The father of three, who is a civil servant, said his family was also cutting down on their sugar intake as he did not want his children’s health to deteriorate.
Meanwhile, Daud said the World Health Organisation had found that a person only needed eight to ten teaspoons of sugar daily but Malaysians were consuming on average of 26 teaspoons.
He pointed out that sugar was one of the contributing causes to 60 different types of illnesses namely diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and kidney failure.
He revealed that by the end of this year, 1.3 million Malaysians could have diabetes. As it is, he said Malaysia ranked number four among Asian countries in terms of diabetes cases.
“Malaysians are used to taking so much sugar that they have developed a taste for it and the amount they take is not even necessary in their daily diet. So if they slowly cut down on sugar, they would eventually find sweet food or drink unpalatable,” he said.
The campaign yesterday featured had basic health screening and several booths offering health products and services.
The campaign was organised by the State Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Office in support of the Kuching Consumer Movement and the State Health Department.
Daud took this stand yesterday in support of a government campaign to reduce sugar intake since December last year.
He reasoned that since food itself had some sugar content, it would be best to eliminate sugar in drinks and requested that organisers of his functions would abide by this.
“I do not put sugar in my drinks when I’m at home so I have developed taste buds that are sensitive to sweetness so much so that when I attend functions, I find it hard to consume drinks there,” he said when launching a two-day sugar intake reduction campaign for Kuching city at Choicemall Ria Semariang here.
He hoped that other government functions would follow suit to inculcate the habit among the people.
A participant of the campaign, Robert Jimbai, 49, lauded the minister’s move to promote sugar intake reduction in society, saying that he had not come across many top figures making such a strong stand.
He said the campaign was timely as the rate of illness because of sugar intake was rising among the people.
“I just checked my sugar level and lucky for me, I’m still in the safe zone but this does not mean that I can just eat anything how. The scary part is that, the disease is picking up fast among the young,” he told StarMetro.
The father of three, who is a civil servant, said his family was also cutting down on their sugar intake as he did not want his children’s health to deteriorate.
Meanwhile, Daud said the World Health Organisation had found that a person only needed eight to ten teaspoons of sugar daily but Malaysians were consuming on average of 26 teaspoons.
He pointed out that sugar was one of the contributing causes to 60 different types of illnesses namely diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and kidney failure.
He revealed that by the end of this year, 1.3 million Malaysians could have diabetes. As it is, he said Malaysia ranked number four among Asian countries in terms of diabetes cases.
“Malaysians are used to taking so much sugar that they have developed a taste for it and the amount they take is not even necessary in their daily diet. So if they slowly cut down on sugar, they would eventually find sweet food or drink unpalatable,” he said.
The campaign yesterday featured had basic health screening and several booths offering health products and services.
The campaign was organised by the State Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Office in support of the Kuching Consumer Movement and the State Health Department.
