Young Minds Health Innovations
Today, two in every five Malaysian adults are overweight. While efforts spanning from university cafeterias to government initiatives all strive to combat obesity, we continue to face a growing epidemic threatening the future of our youth’s health and quality of life. One of the innovative strategies to combat obesity is to seed young minds to live healthy right from childhood and practice throughout life.
On Monday, December 7, 2015 the Obesity Awareness Team at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) paused to remember their commitment towards the campus young adolescents, by challenging UNMC students– “Can you creatively create a poster in combating obesity through innovation health education strategies?”
The Obesity Awareness Team (from Left to right): Ms. Ani Amirah Mohd Zin, Dr. Suresh K. Mohankumar (Project lead: Young Mind Fat Solution, Cascade grant), Ms. Lisa Fong Huang Chin, Ms. Deepa Kumari Veerasingam, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.health education strategies?”
This event was well attended by UNMC students and staff.
It was a good turnout and everyone in the room showed their interest of wanting to fight obesity and to spread the obesity awareness.
We had more than twenty entries and all exhibited fantastic innovative ideas to combat obesity and live healthy. These posters were judged by expert judging panel to select the winners as well as online viewers (~300) to select the people’s choice. Nonetheless, we are very glad that we were able to achieve the key objectives of this project that included promoting healthy living among UNMC students and most importantly stimulating interest in youth to brainstorm innovative health education strategies to combat obesity.
We sincerely acknowledge the funding supports received from Cascade* grant and Impact Nottingham UK. We express our sincere gratitude and thanks for the positive supports from our Provost, Professor Christine Ennew, all members of judging panel and others.
Would you eat a tablespoon of sugar in one go? No? Now, would you eat a strawberry coated donut with sprinkles? Most people would. A typical donut
contains approximately 15g of sugar, which is equivalent to a tablespoon of sugar. The association between sugar consumption and obesity is due to the calories contributed by carbohydrates, whereby sugar is one of the types of carbohydrates. Cutting down sugary food such as carbonated drinks and cakes is an effective way to combat obesity; less calories, less weight gain!
Overall Winner – Ms. Celestine Chan Rui Ting from the School of Biosciences, UNMC
Next step: Inter-school competition (secondary schools –public international schools, Malaysia)
This is the second phase of the project and we intend to spread the awareness to secondary schools within the local community. The second phase will be funded by the TANITA grant and they have provided us with a million yen to run this project. Let’s lead by example and work to create healthier environments because we know that eating nutritious foods and staying active not only helps kids succeed in school, but also allows them to create healthy habits they will carry throughout their lives.
Dr. Suresh K. Mohankumar, an academic from the Department of Biomedical Sciences and his obesity awareness team, including Dr. Soma Mitra (co-applicant) have received an activity support grant (Japanese Yen 1,000,000) from Tanita Healthy Weight Community Trust, Japan. The funds will be used to promote obesity awareness/health education in youth and school children.
Tanita is a Healthy Weight Community Trust, from Japan that supports human welfare by promoting scientific study and practical educational activities aimed at the elimination of obesity and the promotion of optimal weight. This is an international highly competitive grant for obesity researchers and educators.
The winners are listed below
Overall Winner – Celestine Chan Rui Ting from the School of Biosciences
1st Runner Up – Imanuel Macs Ruy from the Nottingham University Business School (NUBS)
2nd Runner Up – Lim Yie Ling form the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
People’s Choice – Tan Hui Woon from the School of Biomedical Sciences
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More information available from Deepa Kumari.
*Cascade is part of The University of Nottingham’s appeal in delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. It supports projects which enhance the skills, confidence, social awareness and employability of students, while making a significant impact on communities, both locally and globally.
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