By Asmahanim Amir
Pix Shahiddan Saidi

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Jun 2015 – A better understanding of some non-communicable diseases such as Obesity, High Blood Pressure and Diabetes, by changing your lifestyle can help you better manage the ailments, if not cure them outright.

Patron of the Non-Communicable diseases (NCD) Alliance Malaysia, Puan Sri Dato’ Akmal Abdul Salam said research has suggested that managing the oxidative stress of such degenerative diseases, as a possible approach to reduce the development and progression of the diseases.

“The bases is the potential of using antioxidants to prevent these diseases which is a focus of this conference. I am happy to note that Malaysia is a country that having the natural plants which have the potential to be used in the field of health,” she said while delivering her speech on International Conference on Antioxidant & Degenerative Disease (ICADD) 2015, here on June 3, 2015.

Akmal said there has been growing interest in Malaysia through the numerous researches conducted in focusing on natural products.

“Many of these are antioxidants and should to researched further. As such this conference can do much in terms of the capacity of current knowledge or the relationship between the natural plants, antioxidants and degenerative diseases and offer opportunities to longer research to firms in collaboration with international researchers,” she said.

She said the Ministry of Health (MOH) had tried to educate the public through the media in promoting a healthy lifestyle by consuming the appropriate diet, reducing the intake of alcohol and saying no to tobacco.

“However, nowadays we see that the number of people suffering NCD diseases is increasing. I think may be the severity of the NCD needs to be addressed, but certainly involves all parties such as the relevant ministries, researchers from the universities, research institutions and NGOs,  to reach into the community.

“We need to come together with the action plan to handle this serious health problem which is also an economic burden. I hope this is a start of a lasting relationship between researchers and NCD Alliance Malaysia and we look forward to further collaborate in the future,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnership), Prof Dr Imran Ho Abdullah said he is proud of the achievements of the Antioxidants, Aging and Degenerative Disease research group in the respective fields as well as other age related ailments.

“They have unrivalled mechanisms of aging in the brain, muscle, heart and chemoprevention in liver and colon, emphasising the importance of antioxidants found in natural products such as palm oil, ginger, betel nut or sireh and other plants, in delaying aging and preventing cancer by modifying respective genes involved.

“These are indeed findings that will contribute to promoting healthy lifestyle and prevent the progression of age related diseases,” Prof Imran declared.

He said, Malaysia is rich in wild plants that have not been fully utilised for research purposes and thus provide the basis of future collaborations with international scientists.

“In a spirit of true cooperation, we should work together for the enhancement in the quality of life: thus diet, genes and environment play an important role,” he added.

More than 150 participants from 15 countries such as Malaysia, United States of America (USA), Bangladesh, Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Europe has been participating in ICADD who are organised by Antioxidant, Ageing and Degenerative Disease research Group, UKM.