Did you know that 1 out of every 5 adult
Malaysians is either overweight or obese?
As we prosper, it seems that our
waistlines expand too! Statistics show that
women make up 7.9% of the nation’s
obese adult population while 4.7% are
men. This sudden spurt in incidence of
obesity is fast becoming the country’s
leading national health problem.
“Overweight” or “obese” are terms used
to describe excess body weight. These
terms do not have the same meaning,
though. Someone who is overweight can
mean being very heavy in weight, but not
necessarily having a large amount of body
fat. Obese refers to a large amount of fat,
no matter what the actual body weight is.
Overweight may mean more muscle for
some, which is due to more lean body
tissue. Some people can be obese and yet
weigh an appropriate amount for their
height. But unfortunately, a large
percentage of their weight is in excess fat.
An athletic person can weigh more than
recommended based on desirable body
weight calculations, but still would not be
considered obese. Why? Simply because
their weight is made up of bulk muscle
and not unwanted fat.
A report, published by the Malaysian
Association for the Study on Obesity
(MASO), stated that 21% of the
Malaysian population are overweight and
over 6% are clinically obese
How Do I Know if I am Overweight or Obese?
Here are 2 simple manners of determining if
you are overweight or obese.
Body Mass Index or BMI.
The BMI is a popular weight-for-height table
that determines obesity and it is recommended
by the World Health Organization (WHO) as
an ideal measure of obesity in adults.
A recent WHO report states that Asian
population experiences obesity-related health
risks at the lower scale of the BMI as
compared to Westerners. This is because
Asians tend to accumulate intra-abdominal fat
without developing generalised obesity.
Asians look thinner but are in actual fact fatter
than Westerners because they have more fat in
their bodies. As such, the BMI for obesity has
been lowered from 30 to 25 to reflect this
increased risk of morbidity among Asians.
BMI =
Weight (kg)
Height (m) X Height (m)
Did you know?
• An average adult female has approximately
22-25% body fat; 30% or higher is
considered obese and the ideal amount
is 20-21%.
• An average adult male has approximately
17-19% body fat; 25% or higher is
considered obese and the ideal amount
is 13-17%.
Waist Circumference or WC.
The WC measurement is simple to determine,
reliable and correlates well with abdominal
fat content irrespective of BMI. It is also an
independent risk factor for cardiovascular
diseases and most useful in individuals who
are in the normal and overweight categories
of BMI. People with wider waist
circumferences are found to be more prone to
obesity-related disease.
The cut-off point for WC as recommended by
WHO:
Contributing Causes to Obesity
BMI
less than 18.5
18.5 – 22.9
23 – 24.9
25 or more
You are
Underweight
Ideal weight
Overweight
Obese
Sex
Male
Female
Waist Circumference (cm)
85
80
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Excessive calorie intake
• Genetics
• Medical condition such as hypothyroidism
