P

eople today tend to pay less attention to their eating habits than ever before.

Not exercising and eating salty and fatty foods and consuming sugary drinks put them at a higher risk of contracting lifestyle diseases.

Peedo Salim, 29, who works as an administration employee at a private company, recalled a time when he could not stop consuming his favorite food and drinks with complete disregard to their sugar, salt and fat content.

During break time, Peedo said, he liked to go to convenience stores to buy beverages, such as milk or tea. “I also liked to get martabak manis [sweet pancakes] as my midnight snacks.”

He added that he enjoyed his favorite food and drinks up until he watched a video on YouTube showing diseases caused by fat accumulating in the human body.

“The video, which was taken during an endoscopy procedure, showed lumps of fat piling up in several organs inside a patient’s body. It was also a real turning point for me when I saw what happened to a relative who was obese. A doctor told him that his liver is covered in fat and this was dangerous to his health,” Peedo told The Jakarta Post.

He then went on a low-fat and low-sugar diet. “For the sake of my health, I made a sacrifice by reducing rice in my meals.

“I also don’t buy sugary drinks anymore.”

Excessive consumption of sugar, salt and fat has long been considered the main cause of non-communicable diseases, which include diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The world health body blames unhealthy diets — aside from other factors such as physical inactivity — for the diseases that kills 40 million people around the globe each year, or equivalent to 70 percent of all deaths.

Since 2010, non-infectious diseases, namely high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, heart problems and diabetes mellitus, have been the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Indonesia, Health Ministry data revealed.

Indonesian traditional foods, many of which are high in salt and fat, such as santan (coconut milk) and innards, have been fingered as one of the major causes for the high number of non-communicable diseases in the country.

“It’s not strange to see that non-infectious disease cases in Indonesia are high because our people tend to eat literally everything,” said nutritionist Johanes Chandrawinata.

According to the Health Ministry, the maximum amount of added sugars people should eat in a day is no more than 50 grams (four table spoons). People should consume no more than 2,000 milligrams of natrium/sodium or five grams (one teaspoon) and only 67 grams (five table spoons of cooking oil) of fat.

Non-communicable diseases have reportedly led to the National Health Insurance (JKN), a program managed by the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), to use around 30 percent of its total budget.

The government has planned to introduce legislation next year to regulate the amount of sugar, salt and fat contained in processed foods.

Although it has not yet been deliberated among ministries, including the Health Ministry and the Industry Ministry, the legislation would require food and beverage producers to slap warning labels on their packages.

“Not only must they mention ingredients including the amount of sugar, salt and fat in their products, they must also put warning labels, such as the health impact of excessive sugar consumption,” the Health Ministry’s director-general of public health, Anung Sugihantono, told the Post.

“People can be educated about the risk of excess consumption of sugar, salt and fat through the labels. This can bring down the number of people afflicted by these diseases,” Johanes said.