Obesity and overweight management in malaysia and singapore: progress on right track.

The ‘westernization’of eating habits has increased the number of fast-food outlets, both in Malaysia and Singapore. There is an increase in the prevalence of obesity in both these countries due to westernization, coupled with reduction of physical activity [1]. In 2010, the World Health Organization has ranked Malaysia as the sixth country that has the highest obesity rate in Asia. The Malaysian Ministry of Health reports that Malaysia has the highest statistics of obesity problem in South-East Asia. Meanwhile, in Singapore, 11% of the population is obese [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity is defined as an individual having BMI equal or more than 30 kg/m2 or individual that has waist-hip ratio (WHR) of more than 1:0 for male and more than 0:85 for female [2]. It is a multifactorial energy balance disorder due to excess calorie intake than energy output.