Materia Medica Malaysiana

Chinese diet a factor in cancer toll?

KUALA LUMPUR: Local universities and research bodies should undertake a study on the dietary patterns of different races and its link to cancer.
“Then we will be able to understand the dietary factors that cause certain cancers among different ethnic groups,” said Nutrition Society of Malaysia (NSM) president Dr Tee E Siong yesterday.
“Only then will we know how to go about advising our people on the proper eating habits.”
He said currently what the public know is based on findings and information from other countries.
“We don’t want to use their findings (by other countries) to advise our people. What we need to know is the dietary patterns about our own ethnic people,” said Tee.
He was commenting on an article in a local newspaper that the Chinese, especially women, are most at risk of getting cancer among the other races.
Based on a registry compiled by the Government, it was found that Chinese recorded a cancer rate of 194 per 100,000, followed by Indians with 117 and Malays with 70.
The gender breakdown also showed Chinese females with the highest cancer rate of 218 per 100,000 population, followed by Indian females (147) and Malay females at only 79.
On the other hand, Chinese males recorded a rate of 169 per 100,000, followed by Indian males (86) and Malay males recorded the lowest at 61.
The report, quoting Malaysian Oncological Society president Dr Gurcharan Singh Khera, had also said that diet and genetic disposition could account for the high rate of cancer among the Chinese.