Rising food prices make it harder to consume healthy meals

SHAH ALAM - The increase in food prices nowadays makes it difficult for Malaysians to get a healthy and balanced diet.

Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) researcher Jarud Romadan Khalidi said that rising food prices worsened the community's ability to obtain the necessary food nutrients.

He said food inflation in May 2022, which was at a rate of 5.3 per cent, was the highest increase in the country since November 2011.

Jarud said the increase was contributed by essential foods such as meat which recorded inflation of 9.5 per cent, while vegetables by 8.1 per cent.

"If the upward trend continues, society may be forced to replace a healthy eating style with a diet that relies on cheap, fast-filling and easy-to-buy foods such as ready-made processed foods.

"Dietary changes like this are worrying because they have the potential to worsen eating styles and have a negative impact on people's health," he told Sinar Ahad.

Among the health effects of an unbalanced nutritional diet were stunting and obesity for children, while adults were exposed to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Jarud said, looking at several factors such as supply and the time for preparation of healthy food, a similar situation was also faced by the middle-income group (M40).

To address the issue, he said, measures to increase household income through direct cash assistance from the government are among the appropriate initiatives to help people provide nutritious food for their respective families.

This is because, he said, a solution through ways of increasing the distribution of expenses from the household's overall income was quite tricky to do as well as the major commitments that needed to be met.

"To deal with this problem in the short term, government intervention through cash assistance can ease the burden of households against the increase in the cost of living, especially those with low incomes," he said.

Meanwhile, the estimated expenditure for each household in Malaysia to provide balanced nutritious food for all family members is RM1,500 to RM2,000 per month.

The amount shows an increase of more than 25 percent compared to the expenditure on healthy food set in the calculation of poverty line income (PGK) in 2019, which was at RM1,169.

The calculation is based on the optimal nutrient requirements for four people in a household with an income below B40, which is B20 consisting of a mother, father and two children.

Health Ministry Science (Nutrition) Officer Khairul Zarina Mohd Yusop said the increase was expected to occur after they took into account the rise in prices of some food items included in the food PGK estimate, including chicken, eggs and vegetables.

"Previously, we recommended people consume rice, brad and grain-based products at the bottom of the food pyramid as it was most nutrient-dense but now, due to many diseases including obesity, diabetes and chronic diseases, we have changed the bottom part of the pyramid to fruits and vegetables based on scientific studies," she said.

Khairul Zarina admitted that, taking into account the price of raw materials in Malaysia today, the expense of meeting the recommendations of eating a balanced diet was difficult to meet, especially for the B20 group.