Ahmad Ali Zainuddin

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Nutritionist at Ministry of Health Malaysia

The global rise in ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption presents potential public health challenges. UPFs, laden with additives and extensively marketed, are increasingly prevalent in modern diets. However, there is limited research on UPF consumption among Malaysian young adults, particularly its relationship with diet quality. This cross-sectio...

Fall is a health problem for older persons. This study investigates the potential factors of concern: the nutritional status of older persons and non-communicable disease association with incidence of falls. This study used data from NHMS 2018, and conducted a cross-sectional design by applying two-stage stratified cluster sampling. Descriptive st...

The Malaysian Nutrition Research Priorities for the 12th Plan (2021-2025) has identified a critical need for research on the consumption of ultra-processed foods among public university students in Malaysia. Despite this need, there is a lack of empirical research on the relationship between ultra-processed food intake and body mass index (BMI) in...

Vitamin mineral supplement (VMS) consumption is prevalent among the population, particularly adolescents. However, literature about the factors associated with the reasons for consuming VMS has not been investigated in Malaysia, indeed adolescents’ nutrition is important as they experience body change during this period. Thus, this cross-sectional,...

Vitamin mineral supplement (VMS) consumption is prevalent among the population, particularly adolescents. However, literature about the factors associated with the reasons for consuming VMS has not been investigated in Malaysia, indeed adolescents’ nutrition is important as they experience body change during this period. Thus, this cross-sectional,...

Introduction: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that targets the CD4+ of human T-lymphocyte cells of the immune system. The weakening immune system causes susceptibility to multiple infective diseases and cancers. This study is aimed to determinant the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and to identify the associated factors of the HIV/A...

In 2016, World Health Organization (WHO) estimated more than 650 million obese adults, resulting in a country’s health burden. This study aims to determine the prevalence of obesity and its associated factors among Malaysian adults. A total of 5820 respondents, aged 18 to 59 years, from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, were included f...

Introduction: Access to accurate and timely dietary information is of paramount importance in evaluating and developing well-targeted public health nutrition interventions. However, nationwide nutrition surveys are conducted infrequently because they are very costly to design, conduct and analyse. Dietary assessment tools, which are quick and cost-...

Malaysian Healthy Plate was launched in 2017 as a vital component of the Malaysian Ministry of Health’s “Quarter-Quarter-Half” program. It is predicted that this concept will bring positive change to the citizen’s dietary habits; however, the residents in rural areas may experience less exposure to this campaign, or lack of understanding to the con...

Being overweight and obese during childhood increases the potential of becoming obese adults later in life. Therefore, this study aims to determine the factors associated with overweight (including obesity) among children under five years of age in Putrajaya, Malaysia. A total of 211 children with overweight cases were successfully recruited in thi...

Fall is a health problem for older persons. This study investigates the potential factors of concern: the nutritional status of the elderly and non-communicable disease association with incidents of falls. This study used data from NHMS 2018, a cross-sectional design, applied two-stage stratified cluster sampling. Descriptive statistics such as the...

Background Hypertension can be detected at the primary health-care level and low-cost treatments can effectively control hypertension. We aimed to measure the prevalence of hypertension and progress in its detection, treatment, and control from 1990 to 2019 for 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 1990 to 2019 on people aged 30...

The current COVID-19 pandemic remains severe. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting every aspect of our lives. Currently, the spread of inaccurate information or fake news on the internet to the public is causing the community to panic. Thus, this study aims to obtain available information on food and nutrition related to the pr...

Introduction: Childhood obesity is a public health problem in Malaysia. Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is associated with obesity in children. There is a lack of studies on factors associated with SSB consumption in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the sociodemographic factors associated with SSB consumption among Malaysian adoles...

Background: Body Mass Index (BMI) can be used to determine bodyweight categories. This study aimed to re-examine the previous optimal BMI cut-offs in identifying the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among the Malaysian adults’ population. Data were obtained from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019. Methods: It was a cross-sectional...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...

(1) Background: One of the most main dietary assessments is through a posteriori application. Although extensive research has incorporated dietary assessment of a population through a posteriori application, this study is the first to examine the Malaysian population and use an a posteriori method and principal component analysis (PCA) to assess th...

Research Highlights of NHMS 2019 on fruits and vegetable intake

Research Highlights of NHMS 2019 on Malaysian Healthy Plate

Aim Older persons are vulnerable to food insecurity. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of food insecurity and associated factors among older persons in Malaysia. Methods This is a cross‐sectional study with two‐stage stratified random sampling. In total, 3977 older persons participated in this study. Face‐to‐face interviews w...

Introduction: This cross-sectional study aims to determine the provision of foods according to NOVA classifications (an ultra-processed classification), to assess contribution of sodium and added sugar availability in each of NOVA food groups, and to evaluate nutritional status as well as to determine the relationship between sodium, added sugar av...

Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled ana...

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world³ and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein...

Food insecurity affects food intake, and it could prevent an individual from consuming enough nutritious food to support and maintain health. The aim of this paper is to determine the prevalence and factors influencing food insecurity among Malaysian households. In 2014, the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) was carried out, and one of the co...

Introduction: Monitoring changes in energy and nutrient intakes of the population over the course of time is essential to help healthcare providers develop effective dietary policies. The aim of this study was to assess the changes in the nutrient intake and Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) achievements by using the data obtained from the Malaysia...

Introduction: Under-reporting of energy intake is a common cause of bias in nutritional studies. This study was aimed at examining the extent of underreporting of energy intake and its related characteristics among respondents in the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) 2003 and MANS 2014. Methods: The present study analysed energy intakes of 9,...

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities1,2. This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity3,4,5,6. Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height...

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities1,2. This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity3–6. Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and...

Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive pop...

Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hype...

Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hyp...

Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends with those...

BACKGROUND:Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends...

Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128•9 million children, adolescents, and adults NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)* Summary Background Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated w...

Background Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare tr...

This study sought to examine the reliability and validity of height measurements using a portable stadiometer as compared to a mechanical scale. Samples from 142 adults aged 22 to 57 were taken during data collection in November 2014. There was a high degree of reliability for the inter-examiner, intra-examiner and inter-instrument aspects with reg...

Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in S...

Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in S...

Summary Background Underweight and severe and morbid obesity are associated with highly elevated risks of adverse health outcomes. We estimated trends in mean body-mass index (BMI), which characterises its population distribution, and in the prevalences of a complete set of BMI categories for adults in all countries. Methods We analysed, with use...

Introduction Overweight and obesity is a major public health problem in Malaysia. This study aims to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the Malaysian adult population and their association with socio-demographic characteristics (gender, ethnic, and age groups). Methods A total of 17,257 adults aged 18 years and older (8,252 me...

The importance of physical activity to health is well recognized. Good health habits should begin from a young age. This article aims to explore physical activity among Malaysian school adolescents and factors associated with it. Data from the Malaysian School-Based Nutrition Survey (MSNS), comprising a nationally representative sample of school-go...

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents is rising rapidly in many countries, including Malaysia. This article aims to present the associations between body mass index-based body weight status, body weight perception, and weight control practices among adolescents in Malaysia. The Malaysia School Based Nutrition Survey 2012, which...

method and general findings

survey findings

Introduction: High sodium consumption over an extended period of time has been associated with hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, renal damage, and other adverse health effects. This study aimed to determine urinary sodium excretion and consequently estimate dietary sodium consumption among normotensive health staff in Malaysia. Methods:...

Introduction: Iodine deficiency is still prevalent worldwide and it is the main cause of goiter, thyroid dysfunction and mental retardation. The aim of the study was to determine the iodine status and goiter prevalence among the school children in Terengganu. Methods: The representative sample consists of 1163 primary school children aged 8-10 year...

Summary Introduction: Previous studies have proposed the lower waist circumference (WC) cutoffs be used for defining abdominal obesity in Asian populations. Objective: To determine the optimal cut-offs of waist circumference (WC) in predicting cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in the multi-ethnic Malaysian population. Methods: We analysed data from 3...

Child malnutrition continues to be a major public health problem in developing countries. This study aims to determine the current nutritional status of Malaysian school children using the anthropometric indicators of weight for age (WAZ), height for age (HAZ), and body mass index for age (BAZ). Methods: A nationwide school-based survey was underta...

Objective: To determine the optimal cut-offs of BMI for Malaysian adults. Design: Population-based, cross-sectional study. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the cut-off values of BMI with optimum sensitivity and specificity for the detection of three cardiovascular risk factors: diabetes mellitus, hypertension and h...

Generalised obesity and central obesity are risk factors for Type II diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Waist circumference (WC) has been suggested as a single screening tool for identification of overweight or obese subjects in lieu of the body mass index (BMI) for weight management in public health program. Currently, the recommended...

A nationwide cross-sectional school-based survey was undertaken among children aged 8-10 years old to determine the current iodine deficiency status in the country. Determination of urinary iodine (UI) and palpation of the thyroid gland were carried out among 18,012 and 18,078 children respectively while iodine test of the salt samples was done usi...

Obesity is an emerging public health threat in the elderly population in developing countries. Hence, the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey has assessed 4746 individuals aged 60 years and older recruited through a household survey to determine the prevalence of adiposity using body mass index and waist circumference. The national's prevale...

The National Health and Morbidity Survey III 2006 wanted to perform anthropometric measurements (length and weight) for children in their survey. However there is limited literature on the reliability, technical error of measurement (TEM) and validity of these two measurements. This study assessed the above properties of length (LT) and weight (WT)...

The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey Malaysia 2006 includes a nutritional status assessment of children. This study aimed to assess the inter- and intra-examiner reliability, the technical error of measurement and the validity of instruments for measuring weight, height and waist circumference. A convenience sample of 130 adults working i...

The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) was conducted in 2006 on a nationally representative sample of population in Malaysia. Over 21,000 children aged 0-17.9 years were measured for body weight and stature according to the protocol of the World Health Organization. This article describes the nutritional status of children aged 0...

Abdominal obesity (AO) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus in adults. There is a lack of data on the magnitude and socio-demographic profile of AO among Malaysian adults at the national level. In the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) conducted in 2006, AO of adults aged 18...

This study sought to examine the reliability of two measurements; Calf Circumference (CC) and Mid-half Arm Span (MHAS). A sample of 130 elderly persons aged 60 years and above seen consecutively in the Kuala Lumpur Hospital outpatient clinic during the period of December 2005 to January 2006, upon consent, were recruited to the study. There was a h...