Welcome to the
September edition of AFICNews.
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providing updates on current food safety, health and nutrition news
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DATES
FOR YOUR DIARY
|
Date |
Events
|
|
Sep
16-20 |
International Rice Congress, Beijing, China |
|
Sep
24-25 |
1st
Asia Conference on Dietary Supplements, Bangkok, Thailand |
|
Sep
29 |
World Heart Day |
NEW
FROM AFIC
-
Take 10 Tips for healthy eating and
physical activity: A fun leaflet designed for teenagers and older
children:
-
AFIC Survey:
Results of AFIC’s 4 countries of children’s knowledge attitudes and
practice in relation to diet and physical activity were presented at
the Asian congress of Dietetics, Kuala Lumpur last month. For brief
summary of first findings,
click Here:
HOT
TOPICS IN FOOD SAFETY AND NUTRITION NEWS IN MALAYSIA
AFIC looked at 15 English language magazines available for sale in
Malaysia in August 2002. These magazines focused on the themes of
women’s affairs, parenting and health.
Nutrition, Health and Food Safety Coverage in 15 Magazines for Sale in
Malaysia, August 2002
Note: These figures are based on simple
counting method of topic headings and does not allow for differences in
length or depth of feature articles.
COMMENTS ON MOST
POPULAR TOPICS
FUNCTIONAL
FOODS
Mainly very short
articles. Topics of greatest interest were anti-oxidants, especially
from fruit and vegetable sources, but also tea, red wine, oats,
micronutrient enriched fruit juice and milk drinks, onega-3 from
fortified foods and fish.
HEALTHY
LIFESTYLES
Wide range of
topics covered in this, including references to the benefits of physical
activity, functional foods and supplements. Lifestyles designed to
encourage healthy eating patterns also feature, for example - the
importance of family meals; benefits of consuming breakfast; forward
planning for healthy snacks and quick meals; healthy eating when dining
out or travelling. Some articles also focus on differing nutritional
needs through stages of the life cycle, for example pre-conceptual
nutrition, and food and nutrients which might slow the ageing process.
INFANT
FEEDING
Features highly in parenting magazines, with
lots of articles on both the benefits of breast feeding, and how to
achieve successful breast feeding. Advice on maternal nutritional health
whilst breast feeding also featured. Continued prevalence of
under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies (iodine, vitamin A, iron)
and their long term effects were also covered.
OVERWEIGHT
AND OBESITY
Always a popular topic area !Slimming pills and
evaluation of their safety feature highly. The importance of physical
activity, and healthy, balanced, weight loss diets also covered, with
warning on the risks of vitamin deficiencies as a result of prolonged or
very restrictive diets.
CHILDREN’S
DIET
Again a wide range of topics are covered under
this heading, including food allergy, micronutrient deficiencies, and
features giving advice to parents on how to encourage lifelong healthy
eating habits.
FOOD
SAFETY
A number of short reports on research linking
fish sauce to oesophageal cancer, and also some commentary on concerns
over acrylamide. Advice features on cooking meat safely (avoid burning,
or undercooking) also included in this months magazine content.
SUGAR
AND SWEETENERS
Includes articles on
sugar and dental hygiene; research which concludes there is no link
between sugar consumption and hyperactivity reported; evidence that a
‘sweet tooth’ is heritable. Factual information on the availability of
sweeteners also covered.
SUPPLEMENTS
Predominantly these
articles focus on vitamin supplements (vitamin C, E B), but also
information on traditional Eastern remedies also covered. Many of
features on included under healthy lifestyles and functional foods, also
make reference to supplements.
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
