Pui Yee Tan

University of Leeds · School of Food Science and Nutrition

Background/Objectives: Dry eye disease (DED) significantly impairs quality of life, affecting physical, social, and psychological well-being, as well as reducing workplace productivity. While lutein and zeaxanthin supplements have been shown to improve ocular health, existing research often overlooks the efficacy of lower dosages and shorter durati...

The triple burden of malnutrition (TBM) is increasing globally, but significant evidence gaps exist regarding its burden and drivers among children in Southeast Asian (SEA) countries. We systematically searched four databases (PROSPERO-CRD42023420129) and Google Scholar through February 2024. We assessed stunting and overweight prevalence among chi...

Background/Objectives: Optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are crucial to addressing the double burden of malnutrition (DBM), encompassing undernutrition (including micronutrient deficiencies) and overnutrition. This study examined the demographic and socioeconomic determinants of IYCF practices, and their impacts on the DBM amo...

Background Vietnam is facing a double burden of malnutrition, with increasing prevalence of overweight coexisting with undernutrition (stunting and/or thinness) and micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs). Although malnutrition during female adolescence leads to poor health outcomes with potential intergenerational effects on offspring, no studies have c...

Background Vietnam is facing a double burden of malnutrition, with increasing prevalence of overweight coexisting with undernutrition (stunting, and thinness) and micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs). Although malnutrition during female adolescence leads to poor health outcomes and may have intergenerational effects on offspring, no studies have inves...

Introduction Traditionally associated with undernutrition, increasing evidence suggests micronutrient deficiencies can coexist with overnutrition. Therefore, this work aimed to systematically review the associations between iron, zinc and vitamin A (VA) status and weight status (both underweight and overweight) in children and young people. Method...

Background Childhood malnutrition in all forms is a major public health issue worldwide. This review systematically examined the prevalence and determinants and identify the potential interventions and current gap in addressing malnutrition including undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs) in Vietnamese children aged 0–1...

Introduction Traditionally associated with undernutrition, increasing evidence suggests micronutrient deficiencies can co-exist with overnutrition. Therefore, this work aimed to systematically review the associations between iron, zinc and vitamin A status and weight status (both under- and overweight) in children and young people. Methods Ovid Me...

Background Childhood malnutrition in all forms is a major public health issue worldwide. This review aimed to systematically examine the prevalence and determinants, and identify the potential interventions and current gap in addressing malnutrition including undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs) in Vietnamese children...

The interplay of physical, social, and economic factors during the pandemic adversely affected the mental health of healthy people and exacerbated pre-existing mental disorders. This study aimed to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the general population in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study involving 1246 partici...

Malaysia has been experiencing smoke-haze episodes almost annually for the past few decades. PM2.5 is the main component in haze and causes harmful impacts on health due to its small aerodynamic size. This study aimed to explore the implications of PM2.5 exposure on the dietary intake of working individuals. Two phased 13-weeks follow-up study was...

Introduction/Background Increased cancer prevalence among women is alarming. Modifiable risk factors account for more than four out of ten cancer-related deaths. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of exposure to modifiable risk factors along with telomere shortening and DNA damage among women. Methodology The participants were 134 wome...

Genetic background interacts with dietary components to modulate nutritional health status. This study aimed to review the evidence for gene-diet interactions in all forms of malnutrition. A comprehensive systematic literature search was conducted through April 2021 to identify observational and intervention studies reporting the effects of gene-di...

Dietary intake may interact with gene variants and modulate inflammatory status. This study aimed to investigate the combined effect of FTO (fat mass and obesity- associated) rs9930501, rs9930506 and rs9932754 and ADRB2 (beta- 2 adrenergic receptor) rs1042713 on C- reactive protein (CRP) concentrations using polygenic risk scores (PRS), and modulat...

Background Previous evidence suggests that school garden-based programmes (SGBP) may be a promising yet cost-effective intervention to improve children’s knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on healthy eating. This review aimed to summarise and evaluate the evidence available on the impacts of SGBP in addressing diet and nutrition-related KAP a...

Background: Previous evidence suggests that school garden-based programmes (SGBP) may be a promising yet cost-effective intervention to improve children’s knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on healthy eating. This review aimed to summarise and evaluate the evidence available on the impacts of SGBP in addressing diet and nutrition-related KAP...

Imbalance in or inadequate intake of micronutrients may impair insulin synthesis, secretion, and it's signaling pathways. This study aimed to investigate the associations between dietary copper (Cu) and selenium (Se) with insulin resistance (IR), in overweight/obese adults. We hypothesized that dietary Cu and Se are associated with IR in a non-line...

Background Obesity has been linked to DNA damage. The modifiable risk factors may modulate the impact of obesity on DNA damage.Objective This study aimed to assess DNA damage and its association with dietary nutrient, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and concentration of hair heavy metals of obese and non-obese women.MethodA case–control study w...

Background: Computing polygenic risk scores (PRS) to predict the degree of risk for obesity may contribute to weight management programs strategically. Objectives: To investigate the combined effect of FTO rs9930501, rs9930506, and rs9932754 and ADRB2 rs1042713 and rs1042714 using PRS on (1) the odds of obesity and (2) post-intervention differen...

The prevalence of obesity and its co-morbidities in the Malaysian population has been increasing dramatically through the past decade, and has now become the leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the Malaysian population. The main aim of this doctoral thesis was to develop a dietary intervention programme tailored according to an...

bold> Background/Aims: Excess weight gain is a result of the interaction between diet, environment, and genes. Evidence suggests that responses to lifestyle interventions to manage weight are partially modified by genetic factors. This review is aimed at summarizing the current evidence from studies done on gene variants – single nucleotide polymor...

Gene-diet interaction studies have reported that individual variations in phenotypic traits may be due to variations in individual diet. Our study aimed to evaluate (i) the association of ADRB2 rs1042713 with obesity and obesity-related metabolic parameters and (ii) the effect of dietary nutrients on these associations in Malaysian adults. ADRB2 ge...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Hipcref (high-protein, energy-restricted, high-vitamin E and high-fibre) diet in Malaysian adults on body composition and metabolic parameters after an intervention period of 6 months. Overweight/obese Malaysian adults ( n 128; BMI≥23 kg/m ² ) were randomised to the Hipcref ( n 65) o...

Gene variations can interact with diet and modulate phenotypic traits in individuals. This study aimed to examine the interaction between dietary parameters and FTO gene variations on biochemical markers in Malaysian adults. Mean age (±SE) for Malays (n=85), Chinese (n=41) and Indians (n=50) were 39.1±1.2y, 42.6±1.9y and 45.7±1.6y respectively. Fas...

In order to tackle obesity-related non-communicable diseases, we aimed to evaluate and explore interaction between anthropometric indices, blood biochemical parameters, dietary intake and selected gene polymorphisms in apparently healthy Malaysians of three ethnic groups. Malaysian adults (Malaysian Malays, Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians)...

Effect of leptin on insulin resistance in obese Malaysians has seldom been reported. Leptin gene has been frequently studied in different populations for its contribution to genetic predisposition to obesity. The objective of our study was to identify correlation between LEP rs7799039 gene polymorphism with anthropometric variables, blood biochemic...

Objective: Blood biochemical parameters, anthropometric indices and dietary intake were assessed in apparently healthy overweight and obese Malaysian adults. Subjects and Methods: Malaysians of all three ethnic categories (Malays, Chinese and Indians), 18 years old and above with BMI>25, attending a specialist health care centre in Semenyih, Malays...