Several methods have been developed to determine a person’s physical activity level. However, there is limited evidence in determining whether someone is physically active or not. This study aims to determine the level of physical activity and to compare the usage of short version International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) and pedometer among overweight and obese women who were involved in the My Body is Fit and Fabulous at home (MyBFF@home) study. Baseline and sixth month data from the MyBFF@home study were used for this purpose. A total of 169 of overweight and obese respondents answered the IPAQ-SF and were asked to use a pedometer for 7 days. Data from IPAQ-SF were categorised as inactive and active while data from pedometer were categorised as insufficiently active and sufficiently active by standard classification. Data on sociodemographic and anthropometry were also obtained. Cohen’s kappa was applied to measure the agreement of IPAQ-SF and pedometer in determining the physical activity level. Pre-post cross tabulation table was created to evaluate the changes in physical activity over 6 months. From 169 available respondents, 167 (98.8%) completed the IPAQ-SF and 107 (63.3%) utilised the pedometer. A total of 102 (61.1%) respondents were categorised as active from the IPAQ-SF. Meanwhile, only 9 (8.4%) respondents were categorised as sufficiently active via pedometer. Cohen’s κ found there was a poor agreement between the two methods, κ = 0.055, p > 0.05. After sixth months, there was + 9.4% increment in respondents who were active when assessed by IPAQ-SF but − 1.3% reductions for respondents being sufficiently active when assessed by pedometer. McNemar’s test determined that there was no significant difference in the proportion of inactive and active respondents by IPAQ-SF or sufficiently active and insufficiently active by pedometer from the baseline and sixth month of intervention. The IPAQ-SF and pedometer were both able to measure physical activity. However, poor agreement between these two methods were observed among overweight and obese women.

Background. Malaysia is predicted to become an ageing population by 2035. Malnutrition among the elderly is one of growing concern. This study aims to identify the prevalence of malnutrition and its associated factors among the elderly in Malaysia. Methods. Data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2018 was analysed. This survey applied a multistage stratified cluster sampling design to ensure national representativeness. Malnutrition was identified using a validated Mini Nutrition Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF). Variables on sociodemographic, health status, and dietary practices were also obtained. The complex sampling analysis was used to determine the prevalence and associated factors of at-risk or malnutrition among the elderly. Result. A total of 3,977 elderly completed the MNA-SF. The prevalence of malnutrition and at-risk of malnutrition was 7.3 and 23.5, respectively. Complex sample multiple logistic regression found that the elderly who lived in a rural area, with no formal or primary level of education, had depression, Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL) dependency, and low quality of life (QoL), were underweight, and had food insecurity and inadequate plain water intake were at a significant risk of malnutrition (malnutrition and at-risk), while Chinese, Bumiputra Sarawak, and BMI more than 25kgm⁻² were found to be protective. Conclusions. Currently, three out of ten elderly in Malaysia were at-risk or malnutrition. The elderly in a rural area, low education level, depression, IADL dependency, low QoL, underweight, food insecurity, and inadequate plain water intake were at risk of malnutrition in Malaysia. The multiagency approach is needed to tackle the issue of malnutrition among the elderly by considering all predictors identified from this study.

Background: Studies have shown that having away from home meals contributes to high sodium intake among young people and those who lived in urban areas. This study aimed to determine the association between dietary sodium intake, body mass index, and away from home meal consumption behaviour among Malaysian adults. Methods: MyCoSS was a cross-sectional household survey involving 1440 adults age 18 years and above. This study utilized stratified cluster sampling to obtain a nationally representative sample. Data was collected between October 2017 and March 2018. Socio-demographic information, dietary assessment using food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and away from home meal consumption were assessed through a face-to-face interview by trained health personnel. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression were applied to identify the association of socioeconomic status and away from home meal consumption with dietary sodium intake. Results: A total of 1032 participants completed the FFQ, with a mean age of 48.8 + 15.6 years. Based on the FFQ, slightly over half of the participants (52.1%) had high sodium intake. Results showed that 43.6% of participants consumed at least one to two away from home meals per day, while 20.8% of them had their three main meals away from home. Participants aged less than 30 years old were the strongest predictor to consume more sodium (adjusted OR: 3.83; 95%CI: 2.23, 6.58) while those of Indian ethnicity had significantly lower sodium intake. Surprisingly, having three away from home meals per day was not associated with high dietary sodium intake, although a significant association (crude OR; 1.67, 95% CI: 1.19, 2.35) was found in the simple logistic regression. Obese participants were less likely to have high dietary sodium intake compared with the normal BMI participants in the final model. Conclusion: Over half of the participants consumed sodium more than the recommended daily intake, especially those who consumed three away from home meals. However, there was no significant association between high sodium intake and having three away from home meals per day. The promotion of healthy cooking methods among the public must continue to be emphasized to reduce the dietary sodium intake among Malaysian adults.

Balanced diet in the early stages of life plays a role in optimum growth and maintains good health status of adolescents. Dietary habits that are established during adolescence will sustain till adulthood. Therefore, this present study aims to identify the dietary patterns and to determine factors associated with dietary patterns in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, locality of schools, ethnicity, eating habits, self-perceived weight status, and food label reading habit among adolescents in Malaysia. Data from the Adolescent Nutrition Survey (ANS) 2017 was used for the present study. ANS is a population representative school-based cross-sectional study among school-going adolescents from primary four to secondary five from schools in 13 states and three federal territories registered under the Ministry of Education Malaysia. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics, locality of schools, ethnicity, eating habits, self-perceived weight status, and food label reading habit. A pre-tested face-to-face food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to collect information on food group intake frequency. Dietary patterns were identified by using exploratory factor analysis and associated factors, using complex sample general linear model (GLM) analysis. All statistical analyses were carried out at 95% confidence interval or p-value < 0.05. The dietary patterns identified are healthy, unhealthy, and alternative proteins. The healthy dietary pattern was significantly associated with the types of school and ethnicity. The unhealthy dietary pattern was significantly associated with the locality of schools, ethnicity, frequency of snacks intake per week, frequency of eating out per week, self-perceived weight status, and food label reading habit. Significant associations were found between alternative proteins dietary pattern and locality of schools, ethnicity, and types of school. This study found that there is a disparity of dietary patterns between different ethnicity, locality of schools, and types of school. We recommend strategies of specifying ethnicity and geographical area to improve dietary patterns of adolescents in Malaysia.