More Than 70 Per Cent Of Men In Urban Areas Are Overweight

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 (Bernama) -- More than 70 per cent of men in the urban areas are obese or overweight due to the environmental factor and the unhealthy lifestyle especially eating habits, according to a study.
They run the risk of contracting chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart ailments and the trend is besetting men below 55 years old, said Subang Jaya Medical Centre Urology Centre consultant Datuk Prof Dr Tan Hui Meng.
He said these were the findings of a two-year study carried out by the Malaysian Society of Andrology on the ageing male in collaboration with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry in Subang Jaya and Petaling Jaya which ended in July.
Of the 1,046 respondents, 49 per cent were Chinese, 34.3 per cent Malays, 14.9 per cent Indians and 1.7 per cent other races, he told a news conference to announce the findings, here Thursday.
Present was Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
Dr Tan said random samplings were taken among male smokers and drinkers aged 40 years and above with protruding waistline and high blood pressure.
He said the town dwellers had the wrong notion they would not develop the symptoms of chronic diseases and that they were healthy and would live healthily to a ripe old age.
"Ironically the trend is the opposite, with men as young as 55 years old already suffering from chronic diseases which should be besetting 70-year-old men," he said.
Shahrizat quipped that as family heads, unhealthy men could cause a lot of problems to their wives and as such the problems ought to be resolved.