Children’s
Diet & Health
(5% total of
coverage)
The period
surveyed included many significant developments, including decision to by
Singapore to redesign it’s successful Trim and Fit programme to include all
children, not just those overweight. Two interesting pieces of research released
during this period were a review of 35 studies concluded that excessive TV
watching by children undermined health in multiple ways; and also a study in
Hong Kong that found children’s activity levels were well below recommended
levels, and that lack of parental support for exercise was primary reason. These
findings have been eclipsed by the many discussions about the role specifically
of TV advertising on overweight. For more information on the role of parents in
encouraging healthy lifestyles for children, see AFIC’s latest press release ‘What
Gifts for our Children?’.
Overweight/Obesity/Weight Control
(5% total of
coverage)
Some unusual
topics covered in the period: Growing awareness of the strong link between some
cancers and overweight; also media interest in India, Singapore and Malaysia of
research evidence of the link between infertility and overweight. Other reports
providing new perspectives on overweight were Thailand’s ongoing strategy to
encourage government servants to act as role models for healthy weight, and life
insurance policies that offer discounts for maintaining healthy weight. For
more information on the health risks of overweight, check out AFIC’s ‘Good
Health - The Case for Effective Weight Management’.
Biotechnology
(5% total of coverage)
Media
reporting in the survey period mainly focused on Asia regional developments. A
number of agriculture government departments are working to progress more
widespread commercial cultivation. These include Thailand, Philippines,
Australia, Viet Nam, China and India. Some campaign groups continue to press for
more labeling of GM ingredients. Codex continue to examine this and during the
survey period yet again looked for harmonization options but the difficulties in
applying this without significant disruptions to trade remains a challenge both
for Codex and many countries. There is evidence that labeling is not valued by
consumers and therefore may be an unnecessary burden for countries in the
region. For more information on
AFIC’s surveys of consumer attitudes to
biotechnology foods (in word document format), and see for example
AFIC’s survey in China, Philippines and Indonesia.
Food Safety – Microbial
(7% total of
coverage)
Unusually a
strong focus on food safety concerns outside the region. Salmonella
contamination of spinach, peanut butter and chocolate were all reported in
international and Asia regional press. Chinese New Year was used by some
government food safety authorities to raise awareness of the critical need to
prepare and store food hygienically. Low levels of awareness and understanding
are one of the biggest obstacles to lowering cases of food-borne illness in the
region. For more information, see
raising awareness through media channels.
Healthy Eating/Lifestyles
(12% total of coverage)
A wide range of
topics tracked by AFIC during this period. These included discussions about
trans fats (Singapore decided not to require labelling, and S Korea concluded
typical intakes were lower than recommended maximum levels); the launch of a
major project in India supported by GAIN of the Gates Foundation to eliminate
under nutrition by 2015 and new research evidence that queries more recent
scientific opinion that S Asians have genetic predisposition to develop type 2
diabetes. For more information on risk factors for type 2 diabetes, please see
an online self-assessment of risk.
Zoonotic Disease & Animal Health
(43% total of coverage)
Highly pathogenic
avian flu continues to be the most dominant topic tracked in AFIC’s survey, with
outbreaks in many countries, including Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Tibet, Laos,
Myanmar, S Korea and Bangladesh during the period. S Korea’s position on US beef
and BSE risk also gained some media interest. For a summary of BSE and food
safety risk, see AFIC’s Short Briefing on BSE in
English,
ภาษาไทย
and
中文.
The Asian Food information Centre
is a not-for profit Singapore-registered organization Its mission is to
effectively communicate sound science based information on food safety, health
and nutrition to the media and other key audiences in Asia.
