Kuala lumpur: The classification of food nutrition, known as Nutri-Grade, under the Health Ministry's initiative, will be implemented soon, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad announced. Nutri-Grade is designed to categorise food products sold in supermarkets, aiming to enhance healthy nutrition literacy among Malaysians.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Nutri-Grade will classify food into categories ranging from Grade A, representing the best nutritional quality, to Grade D, which should not be advertised. Dr Dzulkefly explained that food falling under Grade D contains unhealthy contents, and the categorisation will help consumers make informed choices and potentially avoid such products. The initiative comes in response to findings from the National Health and Morbidity Study (NHMS) 2024, which indicate a significant lack of nutrition among Malaysians.

Dr Dzulkefly emphasized the ongoing challenge for health managers to ensure the implementation of healthy nutritional practices, focusing particularly on malnutrition among teenagers and children. He mentioned that the ministry is open to collaborating with social media influencers to promote a healthy dietary agenda across the country.

The NHMS study, involving 5,400 households, revealed alarming statistics: 78 percent of teenagers and 74 percent of adults lack sufficient vitamin A due to inadequate vegetable and fruit intake, while 98 percent of teenagers and 96 percent of adults are calcium-deficient due to insufficient dairy product consumption. Additionally, two out of three teenagers and one out of two adults consume sugar beyond the recommended 37.5 grammes or 7.5 teaspoons per day. Furthermore, three out of four adults consume an average of 7.3 grammes or 1.5 teaspoons of salt daily, exceeding the World Health Organisation's recommended intake of 5 grammes or one teaspoon.