Non-communicable diseases affect 11.6m

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Seven out of 10 Malaysian adults suffer from at least one non-communicable disease like diabetes, hypertension or cancer.
Latest Health Ministry statistics show that 11.6 million of the 16 million adults nationwide are sick with an NCD.
And by all predictions, the numbers are going to get worse.
The ministry is predicting that the number of Malaysians with NCD is expected to increase to 13 million by 2015.
Health Ministry Deputy Disease Control Director (NCD) Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar blam-ed the situation on the lifestyle of Malaysians, which included higher use of tobacco, unhealthy diets and inactivity.
He said changes in the economic, social and demographic aspects of Malaysian life had led to a rise in NCD.
Dr Zainal said NCDs accounted for 51 per cent of all deaths in the country.
The ministry is at odds with the worsening situation given the fact that the remedy is quite simple, involving what some would call common sense.
"The majority of NCDs are actually preventable if people adhere to simple habits like a healthy lifestyle with good and balanced eating," he said.
Dr Zainal said the ministry was doing its best to educate Malaysians on how they could check the problem before it worsened and burdened the nation’s financial and human capital resources even further.
He suggested a diet that was low in fats and high in fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts.
"It is also important to limit the intake of sugar and salt and reduce weight."
Even a 4.5kg reduction in weight can have a significant effect on hypertension.
He said blood pressure can also be lowered with moderately intense physical activity such as 30 to 45 minutes of brisk walking.

Beware of suspect medicines

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The Drug Control Authority has warned the public to stay away from 15 suspect medicinal products.
They are: Pil Tupai Jantan Asli, Jamu Ajaib, Maajun Petani Tongkat Ali, Kuku Bima Ginseng, Kuku Bima Ginseng & Kuda Laut, Crush Stone Super Kapsul, Obat Kuat Helbeh, Capsul Obat Kuat, Jamu Kuda, Tangkur Buaya, Tablet Kina, Oskadon — Obat Sakit Kepala, Paramex — Obat Sakit Kepala, Tian Ma Tu Chung Seven Leave Ginsengs and Mistura Xiao Chai Hu.
A DCA official has warned that some of them contain potent western medicinal drugs which are regulated under the Poisons Act. He said these drugs can cause harm if they are taken on a long term basis.
Labels on some of the products claim that they can be used to treat conditions such as joint pains, arthritis, headache, skin problems, impotence, premature ejaculation, poor sexual performance and low libido.
"Beware of the claims. They can be harmful as they are not approved by the DCA," the official warned.
The DCA has placed an alert on its website which states that these products have either not been registered, have labels without registration numbers or carry false registration numbers.

The official also warned the public against taking several herbal preparations that had been adulterated with western medicines.
These include: Bao Zhi Tang, Permanence, PMEN, Power, Zhong Mei Bao Jian, Qian Jin Nan Wee and Spanish Fly. Other products which have been adulterated are Enjoy-Male Energy, Blue Boy-Sen X Big, Euriko Ginko and Stallion.
He also warned against using the following products which have been adulterated with scheduled poisons: Air Ikan Haruan, Tongkat Ali Super Power, Maajun Kuat, Jamu Ajaib, Kian Pee Wan, Ceng Fui Yen, Saurean Fong Sep Lin, Seng Yong Wan, Pil Haruan, Kapsul Tongkat Ali Asli, Pil Power Sendi, Pil Resdung, Mixagrip, Komix, Konidin, Antimo, Mextril, Untraflu and Neozep Forte.

Dose of advice on fakes from Health Dept

Star: MALACCA: Consumers still can't tell the difference between genuine and fake medicine, state Health Department (Pharmacy) deputy director Dr Salmah Bahri said yesterday.
She said this was evident from the seizure of over RM1mil worth of unlicensed medicine in the state from January to June, despite the department having only six staff in its pharmaceutical enforcement division to conduct investigation and raids.
“We also had more reports of consumers experiencing adverse effects after they consumed fake medicines,” she said.
Dr Salmah urged consumers to look for the registration number and Mediatag hologram sticker on the label of medicine packaging before using it.
This includes all forms of beauty and slimming products, she added.
“Consumers must understand that there is no such thing as a 100% safe medicine.
“They must also know their rights to know the full description of the medicine before using,” Dr Salmah said to about 100 participants at the state-level You and Your Medicine seminar at a hotel here yesterday.

Stricter tests on imports from China for contamination

Star: PETALING JAYA: More stringent checks are being conducted on made-in-China food products imported here following the alarming number of such items being found contaminated with health risk agents globally.
The Health Ministry’s Food Quality and Safety Division has stepped up surveillance and is carrying out more extensive tests on all new Chinese products that require approvals to be imported here.
“More stringent tests are being conducted to ensure the quality and safety of these products for local consumption,” division director Dr Abdul Rahim Mohamad said.
He said random tests were also being carried out on Chinese products that had already been granted permission to be imported here to ensure the quality and safety standards had not deteriorated.
“More such tests had been done in the past months as the number of tainted and contaminated food items from China reported globally has escalated,” he said.
Malaysia imported about RM58bil worth of food products from China last year. Malaysia is the third largest buyer of China-made products.
Dr Abdul Rahim said the division has also ordered all its state offices, particularly in Sabah, to check the White Rabbit brand milk candy after reports in the Philippines that samples were tainted with formaldehyde, a preservative and embalming chemical that can cause cancer.
However, AP reported that China has resumed shipments of candy to the Philippines after tests by the Chinese government showed the chemical was not present in the product.
According to Shanghai-based candy manufacturer Guan Shen Yuan Company, distributors in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong had performed their own tests and found the confection to be formaldehyde-free.
The worldwide scares have involved poisonous pet food ingredients, toxic fish, industrial chemicals and dye found in biscuits, candies, pickles, seafood, meat and toothpaste.
In the past months, Hong Kong and Singapore health authorities had warned their residents about the danger of Chinese products.
Singapore Agri-Food and Veterinary Services (AVS) warned Singaporeans against buying salted duck and century eggs from China, which were said to be contaminated with dangerous cancer-causing Sudan dyes.
AVS also suspended the importation of canned fried dace with salted black beans and frozen prepared eel from China. The products were found to contain Malachite green, a type of chemical used as a dye.
Tests by the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety had also found that some Chinese seafood products including Bombay-duck (a type of fish), were found with cancer-causing agents nitrofurans and formaldehyde.

Chua: No ban on China goods

Star: KLUANG: Malaysia will not ban the import of food supplements, cosmetics and medicine from China although Indonesia has done so.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the import of drugs and food supplements are controlled rigidly by his ministry through either the food quality division or the pharmaceutical division.
“So we will not follow blindly what another country does. Indonesia can do what they want, we have our own guidelines,” said Dr Chua.
He said if the amount of herbal product in any food did not exceed 20%, it was considered an ordinary food product and need not be registered with the ministry.
If it contains more than 20% of herbal products, then it is regarded as a food supplement and has to be registered with the food quality division or the pharmaceutical division.
As for drugs, they must all get approval from the ministry through the pharmaceutical division before they can be in the market, he said.
Indonesia banned the import of food supplements, cosmetics and medicine from China early this month, following findings that the medicines contained chemical substances while the cosmetics were mixed with mercury and rhodamin and its food products were mixed with formalin, all of which were dangerous to health.

Inadequate Supply Of Human Tissues For Treatment

KOTA BAHARU, July 29 (Bernama) -- The country is facing a shortage of human tissues for medical treatment due to the public's lukewarm response to organ donation.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the people should be aware of the importance of organ donation for medical purposes.
"Organ donation should adhere to the guidelines and fatwa (religious ruling) so that it would not be against the law, syarak (Islamic law) and other religions," he said at the National Tissue Bank's 15th anniversary celebrations here today.
His speech was read out by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Health Campus director Datuk Dr Mafauzy Mohamed.
The National Tissue Bank was set up at the campus in Kubang Kerian with the cooperation of the Malaysia Nuclear Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1994.
The project was introduced in 1990 with aid from IAEA and is manned by personnel from the Science Technology and Environment Ministry.
Mustapa said the tissue bank supplied various types of tissue grafts and replacement tissues for patients suffering bone problems, scalding and cornea ulcer.
He said so far more than 10,000 patients had benefited from tissue grafts supplied by the tissue bank at 38 hospitals in the country.
Since its formation, the tissue bank had received the Quality Management System MS ISO 9001:2000 certification in 2005.
Monitored by the IAEA, the tissue bank is carrying out research to improve its services to the people including identifying artificial organs.
"The country is facing inadequate supply of human tissues, especially bones tissues, as human tissue donation is still low," he said.
He said USM's research work had created biomaterial clusters which involved several branches of science to pioneer biomaterial science and tissue engineering.
At the function, students who won essay writing and poster competitions in conjunction with the celebrations, received commendation letters and cash awards.

Two government hospitals to adopt ‘full-paying patient’ concept

Star: MUAR: The Putrajaya Hospital and the Selayang Hospital in Selangor will be the first public hospitals in the country to adopt the “full-paying patient” concept.
The service provides patients with the option of being treated by specialists of their choice in an executive or first-class facility and be charged accordingly.
There had been a significant number of well-to-do patients seeking treatment from government specialists who paid the minimal rate and enjoyed the subsidised treatments.
The full-paying patient scheme is one way of addressing this inadequacy and, in addition, will help provide better incentives and remuneration for specialists and encourage them to continue working in government hospitals.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the move would help to curb medical specialists from government hospitals from joining the private sector.
He said the two hospitals would begin offering the concept from Aug 1.
Speaking to reporters here, Dr Chua said the move was also aimed at attracting specialists who had left government hospitals to serve in the private sector.
“We are losing about 50% or about 100 of our specialist doctors every year, who resign to join the private hospitals.
“We hope this approach will enable the hospitals to allocate some additional incentives for the specialist doctors,” he said after visiting drainage and road projects in Bentayan here on Thursday.
Dr Chua said the ministry picked the two hospitals as they have excellent facilities to treat liver related illnesses, hand surgery, breast cancer and endocrine diseases, among others.
He said many who could afford it sought treatment at these hospitals, but without the full-paying patient concept, they only paid the minimal rate and enjoyed subsidised treatment.
Dr Chua said it was unfair as the government subsidy was meant for patients who could not afford to pay the full amount for the treatment of such illnesses.
He said the cost would be similar to those charged by the private hospitals and consistent with schedules outlined by the Malaysian Medical Association, but with some discount.

Sick and tired of work? Buy a medical chit for RM17

NST: JOHOR BARU: Were you absent for work? Do you need a medical chit to convince your employer that you were not playing truant?
Not to worry. For a mere RM17, a local syndicate can supply you with a "bona fide" medical chit complete with a stamp from a government hospital.
It is learnt that the syndicate has been operating for six months supplying customers — mostly Malaysians working in Singapore — with the chits.
The stamps on the undated chits carry the names of different doctors, while fields such as name, address and place of employment are left blank.
One of their customers, who wanted to be identified only as Paul, said as a precaution, the syndicate would record the buyer’s details, such as the registration number of the car and the serial number on the chit beforehand.
"From what I know, they don’t give the chits to anyone they do not know."
Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) director Dr Roshaimi Merican said she had not received any reports of chits from government hospitals being sold in the open.
There are nine government-run hospitals in Johor, two of which — HSA and Sultan Ismail Specialist Hospital — are in Johor Baru.
"We urge members of the public to inform us of this," said Dr Roshaimi.

Doctors, nurses need to help smokers quit habit

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Although smoking is hazardous to health, doctors, nurses and others in the health industry are doing very little to help smokers to quit.
The Malaysian Medical Association’s Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Committee chairman Prof Dr Lekhraj Rampal said yesterday that health professionals could play a very important role in discouraging smoking.
"In community and clinical settings, as health professionals you are the most knowledgeable in health matters and you are expected to act on the basis of this knowledge. Unfortunately, it is not being done," he told the New Straits Times.
Dr Rampal said health professionals should also be role models for the population but there were many who were smokers themselves.
The NST had on June 1 highlighted that Malaysians were spending RM15 million daily on the "poison stick".
Despite an aggressive approach by the government in the "Tak Nak" campaign, Malaysians continue to smoke some 30 million sticks of cigarettes a day. This adds up to a staggering RM6 billion going up in smoke every year.
A study by ASH revealed that 50 per cent of the more than 3.5 million smokers nationwide smoked nearly 10 sticks a day.
If the remaining 50 per cent smoked five cigarettes a day, this would amount to a total of nearly 11 million sticks a day. ASH is concerned that many of the smokers are between 15 and 25 years old.
"Tobacco is hazardous to health. There are about 4,000 known chemicals in tobacco smoke, with more than 50 of them likely to cause cancer," warned Dr Rampal.
He said health professionals needed to address tobacco dependence as part of their standard of care practice.
"Questions about tobacco use should be included when monitoring vital signs and at every encounter with a patient," he said, adding that doctors should ask about tobacco use, advise users to quit, assess their willingness to quit, help them to quit and arrange follow-ups.

Puzzled over fewer tests

Star: KOTA KINABALU: State-owned Warisan Harta Sdn Bhd, which took over the foreign workers' health screening from Fomema on Jan 1, is puzzled over the drop in the number of workers being tested.
Chairman Datuk Dr Patawari Patawe said it could be due to the existing ruling that workers need not undergo medical examination for renewal of their work pass after serving in the state for four years.
“I am puzzled by the decline. The procedures and infrastructure offered by Warisan Harta are similar to that of Fomema,” he said yesterday.
Asked if the decline could be due to the quality of Warisan Harta's services, he said the quality should not be lower than that offered by Fomema.
He said the state should investigate the matter as about 7% of foreigners screened in Sabah were found to be unfit.

1.5 million blood donors sought

Star: SUBANG JAYA: The Health Ministry has targeted 1.5 million donors to provide a constant blood supply throughout the year, said Health parliamentary secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon yesterday.
Currently, the National Blood Bank collects 450,000 units of blood a year from 1.8% (about half a million) of the population, with some people donating several times a year, he said during a press conference to announce the National Association of Malaysian Life Insurance and Financial Advisors’ donation campaign on Saturday.
“We hope with the help of NGOs, we’ll be able to achieve the 1.5 million and 100% volunteer donors.”
The number of blood units donated has increased from 200,000 in the 1990s to the current number of units because NGOs have stepped forward to promote and organise blood donation drives, he said.
He said 99% of blood donors were volunteer donors, and that less than 1% of the blood donated was tainted.
The Health Ministry has 110 blood banks throughout the country.

Leaky Ceiling Again At Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital

SUNGAI PETANI, July 23 (Bernama) -- The ceiling of the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital (HSAH) cafeteria leaked again today, believed to be the fifth incident since the hospital started operations in December last year.
Clogged sewage pipes which run above the cafeteria is blamed for the leak.
HSAH director Dr Hariff Fadzilah Che Hashim said the pipes were clogged with sanitary pads and disposable napkins by inconsiderate people.
"We regret this irresponsible attitude because it is creating problems and causing inconvenience to others. The public should use the rubbish bins to throw away the disposable items," he told reporters here.
He said the cafeteria had to be closed temporarily to enable repair work to be carried out.
The hospital, built at a cost of RM468 million, is still under maintenance by the contractors, TH Universal Builders Sdn Bhd and Bina Darul Aman Berhad (THUB-BDB JV) until August next year.
Early this month, the cafeteria was closed for several hours due to leaking pipes which subsequently flooded the floor.
Similar incidents were reported twice in May. The first was on May 26 when the ceiling panels at the men's ward at the hospital collapsed and the following day, eight ceiling panels collapsed at the children's nursery and at the Intensive Care Unit.

Automation Of Daily Chores Contribute To Obesity Among Women

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 (Bernama) -- The switch from the physical way of doing household chores to automation has been cited as factors that contribute to obesity among women, said Parliamentary Secretary to the Health Ministry Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
"At home, most of the work handled by women like washing is done by machines while at the office men usually take the lift rather than the stairs although it is only for one floor," he said when replying to a question from Senator Datuk Soon Tian Szu in the Dewan Negara here Tuesday.
Soon wanted to know reasons for overweight and obesity among Malaysians where some one milion or 18.8 percent of the 1.85 million saddled with the problem are women.
Lee said the intake of an imbalance diet high in fat and sugar content just add to the problem.
"The intake of food far outweighs the energy needed for daily activities. If left unchecked, this will lead to weight gain," he added.
Statistics showed that women over 40 years-old have weight problems because office work and family commitments left them with little or no time at all for exercises.
Lee said a study on the food intake by adults in 2003 found that overweight Malaysians had increased by 26.71 percent and that the obesity rate had increased by 12.15 percent or by three fold.
The healthy lifestyle campaign by the ministry is among steps taken by the government to overcome overweight and obesity among Malaysians.

Doubts over health screening of foreigners

NST: KOTA KINABALU: Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said yesterday there were discrepancies in the health screening of foreign workers in Sabah.
His suspicion was based on statistics which showed there were 50 per cent fewer workers getting health check-ups this year compared with last year.
"Based on our monitoring, there were 52,000 foreign workers screened by Fomema from January to April last year," he said. During the same period this year, only 26,000 were screened.
"Why was there such a drastic reduction, especially since policies and procedures for foreign workers have not changed at all?"
Dr Chua said they were worried about the huge discrepancy as it could mean that there were recruitment agencies bringing in foreigners without undergoing the stipulated health checks.
"This is dangerous because from our experience, about 6.8 per cent of foreign workers are deemed unfit to work, sometimes carrying infectious diseases like Hepatitis B.
"This could easily spread and endanger the people."
Speaking at the annual state MCA assembly here, he said: "I'm not playing the blame game. I just know that there are leakages somewhere, but I do not know where."

More people going for traditional medicines

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: While the country may be marching towards developed status by 2020, Malaysians, it seems, will continue to opt for the old and tested ways when it comes to their health.
They are expected to spend more than RM1 billion on traditional and complementary medicines in 2020.
Director-general of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said this was based on the trend which showed that consumer expenditure for traditional and complementary medicines had risen from RM272 million in 2000 to almost RM400 million now.
"Malaysians, just as in many other countries, are turning to traditional and complementary medicines and the industry is growing fast," he told the New Straits Times.
Dr Ismail said the government was aware of the importance of the industry and would ensure that all plans to integrate traditional and complementary medicines would be carried out carefully.
This includes giving due consideration to the safety and medico-legal aspects, religious sensitivities and local culture.
Dr Ismail said the move to integrate traditional and complementary medicines into the Malaysian healthcare system was timely as it would result in a more holistic approach.
However, he stressed that traditional and complementary medicines needed to be introduced in a regulated way.
In Malaysia, traditional and complementary medicines have been divided into five groups with the formation of five practitioner bodies — Malay, Chinese, Indian, Complementary and Homeopathy.
More than 7,000 traditional and complementary medicine practitioners were registered with their respective bodies last year.
"Malaysia’s approach is now towards integrated medicine where people can benefit from both systems."
Integrated medicine, he said, focused on health and healing, rather than disease and treatment.
Following the cabinet’s approval last year for integrated hospitals to be set up, the pilot project is set to kick off in October this year at the Kepala Batas Hospital in Penang.
This will be followed by the Putrajaya Hospital and Sultan Ismail Hospital in Pandan in Johor in December.
Herbal preparation, acupuncture and traditional massage are the three elements which would be introduced in the hospitals conducting the pilot projects.

Medical colleges’ high fees surprise MMA

Star: THE Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is surprised that private colleges are charging their medical students exorbitant fees, when they are using facilities at government hospitals.
According to the Malaysia Nanban report, the MMA said specialists from the public hospitals are furthermore engaged at these colleges on a part-time basis and paid a nominal fee.
The MMA claimed the charges at the nine colleges providing medical programmes are be-tween RM200,000 to RM310,000 per student for a five-year course.
It added that the eight government hospitals that are allowing the use of their medical training facilities are only collecting between RM15,000 and RM20,000 from each college.
The association hopes to meet the Education and Health ministries soon to discuss the issue and fix a ceiling fee for those pursuing medicine in the country's private colleges.

Two healthier fats should be included in diet

NST: GENERALLY, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids tend to lower people’s risk of heart diseases.
Called the healthier fats, these two fats should be included in our diet.
Many common vegetable oils (like soy bean, corn and sunflower), fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, smelt, herring and trout), fish oils, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, soybeans and some nuts (for example, walnuts) contain high proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Olive oil, canola oil, high oleic sunflower oil, avocados and nuts like cashews, pecans, almonds and peanuts, contain high proportions of monounsaturated fatty acids.
Saturated and trans-fatty acids are the "unhealthy fats" that raise people’s risk of heart diseases.
Saturated fat has traditionally been known as "the bad fat" because it raises the blood levels of bad cholesterol (LDL), although it also ups the blood levels of good cholesterol (HDL) at the same time.
It is mostly found in coconut, palm and palm kernel oils, animal fats (for example, pork, lamb and beef), butter, cheese and other dairy products.
But trans fat has been shown to be worse than saturated fat; it raises LDL and lowers HDL simultaneously.
Lim Ai Leng, the chief dietician of a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, described trans fat as "about 10 times worse than saturated fat as a risk factor of cardiovascular disease".
Dr A.H. Lim, a general health practitioner in the Klang Valley, said trans fat quickened the rate of ageing and increased the risk of birth defects in newborn babies.
"Malaysians are ignorant of its dangers because they don’t pay attention to these things."
Most trans fat comes from margarine (especially hard margarine), bakery products that are made with shortening, and margarine or oils containing partially hydrogenated oils and fats.
These include local and imported cookies, crackers, instant noodles, doughnuts, cakes, pastries, muffins, croissants and potato chips.
The Health Canada website said up to 45 per cent of the fat content in these products might be trans-fatty acids.
Ai Leng said food which was labelled "low in trans fat" should not contain more than 1.5g per 100g (solids) or more than 0.75g per 100ml (liquids). And food labelled as "free of trans fat" should not contain more than 0.1g per 100g (solids) or not more than 0.1g per 100ml (liquids).

It’s bad, you should know

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Trans fat and hydrogenation are bad words in nutrition and the Health Ministry wants you to be aware of it.
The ministry is reviewing the need to make it mandatory for trans fat, which is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, to be listed in the nutrition label of all foods.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the ministry would also increase efforts to educate the public about trans fat and its dangers.
Trans fat is the ultimate "bad fat" as it is said to increase the bad cholesterol in the body while simultaneously lowering good cholesterol.
It is also linked to certain forms of cancer and diabetes.
Dr Ismail said Canada, Denmark, India and the United States had mandated the listing of trans fat.
New York’s Board of Health voted unanimously last December to ban these artery-clogging artificial trans fat in all restaurants in the city. The restaurants have until July next year to eliminate trans fat in their food.
Dr Ismail said: "Most Malaysians use palm oil (in their cooking) and it doesn’t have this (trans fat) problem.
"But because of the possibility of people using imported products and other types of oils, the ministry will review the need for mandatory labelling of trans fat in foods."
He said this would be carried out after consultation with food producers and nutritionists.
Fats and oils are made mostly of four types of fatty acids: Polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, saturated, and trans fat.
Trans fat is found naturally in small amounts (dairy products, beef and lamb).
Small amounts of trans fat are also formed during the refining of liquid vegetable oils like canola and soy bean oil.
But mostly, artificial trans fat is created when manufacturers use a process called "hydrogenation".
This process turns liquid oil into a semi-solid form when hydrogen is added to the oil under intense heat to produce products like shortening or margarine.
Hydrogenation is used to stabilise the flavour, as well as increase the palatability and shelf life of food.
The ministry, said Dr Ismail, was concerned about fast food, margarine and other hydrogenated oil-based products.
Malaysia’s food regulation does not require mandatory labelling of trans fat or any of the three fatty acids for all foods.
However, where a food label highlights any of the four fatty acid components, it will have to list all of them.
So, should Malaysians avoid food that has trans fat?
"I think if you consume in the defined allowable amount, you need not worry about it," said Dr Ismail.
He said some studies showed that trans fat was not dangerous if the amount consumed was less than one per cent of a person’s total daily calorie intake.
If you consume 2,600 Kcal a day, it is permissible to take 2.6gm of trans fat.

Cancer vaccine trials for 230

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Some 230 advanced-stage lung cancer patients in the country will take part in clinical trials for a therapeutic cancer vaccine.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said the vaccine, Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), was the first of its kind in the world and produced here with the cooperation between Malaysia and Cuba.
“The second and third phases of the clinical trials would be conducted on 230 patients who volunteered to undertake the trials at 14 hospitals nationwide.
“They have been told they have about six months to live,” he told a press conference.
Dr Latiff said the trials would be conducted by a local biotechnology company and Cuban researchers.

Leprosy centre to become heritage, tourist attraction

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Part of the Sungai Buloh Leprosy Centre may be made a heritage site and tourism attraction under a Health Ministry’s proposal to redevelop the area under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said it was decided to preserve some parts of the centre because of its historical significance.
"We planned to turn part of the centre’s buildings into a heritage site due to its historical significance and the building’s unique structure.
"It can also be a tourist attraction," he said after launching Tung Shin Hospital’s traditional medicine building yesterday.
He said at one time the lepers produced their own currency because the public was afraid to mix with them.
"Some of them still have the currency in mint condition," he added.
The leprosy centre opened in 1930 and was once the Commonwealth’s largest and most modern facility for the research and treatment of the disease.
In the early days, there were up to 3,000 patients but now, only 340 people who are cured of the disease remained, eking out a living by selling plants and flowers.
Many of them choose to stay at the centre due to the stigma attached to the disease.
Many have also lost contact with their families.
Dr Chua said there were no plans to close down the centre, assuring the remaining former leprosy patients that they could stay on.
Besides the centre, the 200ha site houses the Sungai Buloh Hospital.
Squatters have also moved in and nurseries are occupying the land illegally.
The redevelopment will also see the setting up of an Infectious Disease Control Centre as well as Universiti Teknologi Mara’s administrative and service centre.
Dr Chua said the cabinet had agreed on Wednesday for a committee headed by the ministry’s secretary-general to study the viability of turning the centre into a heritage site.
The committee will consist representatives from the Higher Education, Tourism, Housing and Local Government and Culture, Arts and Heritage ministries.
"It will ensure the redevelopment will be carried out in an orderly fashion and the land use will be optimised," he said.