
In Malaysia, Nutritionists Take Money from Food Giants - sohkamyung
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/23/health/obesity-malaysia-nestle.html
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cybergoat
My wife is Malaysian, but I am not. Here is my outsider's perspective:

* Street food is very tasty, but often laden with gular (palm sugar) or rock sugar (case in point: Sambal). You don't notice because it's spicy!

* Sweet drinks (milo, teh tarik) often accompany the spicy food.

* The street food is so cheap, and available pretty much everywhere. People avoid cooking at home[1]. Fresh fruit and vegetables are not that cheap.

* Because the weather is so hot and humid, people avoid walking.

* People like to eat white rice, as opposed to brown rice (high GI)

* Society has transitioned to office work rather than manual work

* People can afford larger portions because they are wealthier

* The weather is hot and humid, so people avoid walking outside during the day! AC office to AC car to AC shopping mall, etc, etc.

[1] One fascinating thing I have noticed is the concept of a "wet" and "dry"
kitchen. The dry kitchen is inside the house, and is almost a show-piece. The
wet kitchen is where the real action happens (albeit by the maid), but is
typically a lean-to adjoining the back of the house.

~~~
namelost
Over-obsession with carbohydrates/sugar intake is a health fad. One simply
can't expect health fads to be uniformly distributed across the planet.

People like to eat white rice, because they've been doing so for thousands of
years with no ill-effects. The question is how can we improve nutrition
education in the west so that people don't think that they are going to get
diabetes from eating rice.

~~~
cybergoat
There is nothing particularly wrong in eating white rice, if your energy
expenditure is matching up to the intake.

But as societies change, manual labour is replaced by machines and people move
on to physically less demanding work, diets have to adapt.

~~~
contingencies
Roughly...

Cup of cooked white rice: 205 calories.

Single cup of milo and milk: 100+ calories for milo, 100+ calories for milk.

So they're about the same in energy, however that is not the whole story.
Firstly, the glycemic index[0] or how fast sugars are released - rice is good
(low and sustained energy release) whereas Milo is bad (fast). Secondly, the
overall eating habits encouraged... Milo is encouraging time-poor, less
considered, more commercial/productised single-serving consumption and
provides little additional nutrition, whereas rice typically accompanies and
encourages more natural foods with a more complete nutritional profile (not
just "massive energy hit plus incidental protein"). Obviously the
environmental overheads with respect to packaging and transport are also far
worse for Milo than rice.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index)

~~~
kgr
According to the link you provided, most white rices are in the high-glycemic
category. According to the "International table of glycemic index and glycemic
load"[1], Jasmine Rice has a Glycemic Index of 109, which is actually higher
than even pure glucose, which has an index of 100. Milo, on the other hand,
depending on where you buy it and what you mix it with, has a GI of between 36
and 55.

[1]
[http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/1/5.full.pdf](http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/1/5.full.pdf)

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thisisit
_Among the published articles was one that concluded that children who drank
malted breakfast beverages — a category dominated in Malaysia by Milo, a
sugary powder drink made by Nestlé — were more likely to be physically active
and spend less time in front of a computer or television._

Well, malted drinks are a staple in South Asia. In India the brand called
Cadbury Bournvita is the go to food for most mothers. As if the added sugar is
not enough, quite a lot of parents tend to add 1-2 additional spoons of sugar.
Then there is Horlicks by GSK. Milo is way behind.

 _The company said its review of the article on the breakfast study and other
research was intended “to ensure that the methodology was scientifically
correct.”_

What kind of standards, practices and internal controls do these guys have to
ensure scientific correctness of a paper?

~~~
justinjlynn
Ones that are driven by the persuit of profits and well-met KPIs, that's what.

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merraksh
_[Nestlé] said its review of the article on the breakfast study and other
research was intended “to ensure that the methodology was scientifically
correct. "_

If your research is funded by NSF, the articles you published are still _peer_
-reviewed, not reviewed by the NSF.

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KanyeBest
Color me jaded, but I'm pretty sure this happens in every industry across the
world.

[http://www.vocativ.com/212533/big-tobacco-
doctors/index.html](http://www.vocativ.com/212533/big-tobacco-
doctors/index.html) [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4778168/US-
doctors...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4778168/US-doctors-
paid-47M-push-painkillers.html)

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jpatokal
This article seems to be insinuating pretty hard that ignoring sugar is an
active conspiracy between Nestle and Malaysian nutritionists, but it seems
more likely that they're just behind the curve. Transitioning the identity of
the Great Satan from fat to sugar is a relatively new phenomenon, and even
here in Australia it's still much easier to find low-fat products in the
supermarket than low-sugar ones.

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afeezaziz
I do not think that it is bad to take research money from BigCos but
suggesting sugary drinks/breakfast as alternative? There are other better
alternatives!

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gech
Great example of how we must be ever watchful. Consumer protections are a
must.

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edpichler
Tip: If someone faces the Nytimes paywall, just open it on a private tab.

