The 15th Year of Nestlé Omega Plus® Walk-A-Mile 2016

It’s been 15 years that since Nestlé Omega Plus® Walk-A-Mile (WAM) first started with only 500 walkers, and now over the weekend we saw a total of 3800 walkers from all ages walk a mile together for a healthier heart. Why a mile, why 15 minutes? It has a somber meaning as every 15 minutes, there is one death caused by heart disease in Malaysia. Also, the 15th annual Walk-A-Mile represents 15 years of partnership between Nestlé Omega Plus® and Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM). Sure, we know that heart disease tops the list of number one killer in Malaysia¹, but myself and many other Malaysians have the tendency to wait till the last minute to do something about our own heart health. We also tend to think that heart disease only affects the elderly^2 but last weekend I learned that 47% of heart patients are actually below 40! That’s super near to where I am. Another worrying fact is a research that showed Malaysians my age, in our thirties may have ageing arteries that is alike people in their seventies if we do not watch our lifestyles³. It does seem a bit late to take care of our health now but as the saying goes, it is better late than never.

“As Malaysia’s heart health advocate, we truly believe that your heart is in your own hands. Heart disease does not happen overnight but through years of living with these habitual risk factors. But the good news is that you could save a life in as little as 15 minutes as brisk walking reduces the risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes,” said Chew Soi Ping, Executive Director, Sales, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad, in his welcome speech at the event. “The 3,800 people here today have not only ‘saved’ their own lives by joining today’s Walk-A-Mile. In fact, if you have shared your Walk-A-Mile experience with your friends and family on social media, you would have saved double or even triple that amount by reminding people why it is important to manage your heart health now instead of later,” he added.

Ng Su Yen, Business Executive Manager, Milks, Nestlé Malaysia during the press conference also brought up how our eating habits and lack of knowledge of nutrition through the years can really affect our level of cholesterol, as it is not something that happens suddenly. Just imagine if the regular Malaysian eats Nasi Lemak for breakfast, Char Kueh Tiaw for Lunch and then Chicken Rice for dinner! It really opened my eyes, as that is my diet on some days! Out of convenience and lack of time, we tend to just eat whatever is nearest, cheapest and available near our work place. Little did we really consider the amount of oil in the food, it is not just about putting on weight or not but about the bad cholesterol that affects our arteries and eventually our heart. We really shouldn’t wait until the symptoms of heart disease appear before thinking of how to take precautions.

The 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health highlighted that 47.7% of Malaysian adults aged 18 years and above have high cholesterol, a significant increase from 32.6% in 2011⁴. “We cannot ignore any longer that more and more Malaysians are succumbing to heart disease at a younger age and this issue is further amplified through a lack of regular exercise, unhealthy eating habits and other risk factors like smoking, which can be avoided,” said Tun Ahmad Sarji bin Abdul Hamid, President of Yayasan Jantung Malaysia. Tun Ahmad also emphasized that it is not that hard to start taking care of our health “We need to trigger a change of heart and mind set among Malaysians on heart health. One of the main reasons for the rising concern of heart-related disease among Malaysians is our lack of awareness as to how to manage our heart health holistically. You only need to remember three key factors for holistic health management – get daily physical activity, visit your doctor for a regular medical check-up and eat a consistent balanced diet,” said Tun Ahmad.

There are 3 key factors to holistic heart health management – physical activity, medical check-up and a balanced diet, and all three was found at the Walk-A-Mile event!

Physical Activity – We can walk, we can run, we can dance or even hula hoop, any activity that gets your heart pumping and your sweat to break out is going to be good for your heart! Do exercise daily if possible even if it’s just brisk walking of 15 min a day like what we did at Walk-A-Mile. Better still, target to walk up 10000 steps a day, it’s not easy to achieve that with my desk job but I still count my steps daily and add on other workouts after work like zumba or pilates.

Medical Check-up - Free health screening was provided at Walk-A-Mile. I do my medical check up at least once in 2 years, but after 40 it is advisable to do it annually! The medical check-up is so important to tell us any early signs of high cholesterol so that we won’t be living too carefree.

Balanced Diet

One way to reduce the risk of heart disease is to manage your cholesterol levels by adding plant sterols to your diet. Plant sterols can be found in minimal amounts in grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds but you may have to consume very large amounts in order to meet the daily requirement of 1.2g of plant sterols in order to have an effect on your cholesterol level. Nestlé Omega Plus® has made it convenient to meet this daily requirement – two servings of Nestlé Omega Plus® milk a day is all you need and it is equivalent to plant sterols found in 255 tomatoes or 126 carrots. Nestlé Omega Plus® is the only milk that has Acticol®, plant sterols that help lower cholesterol by blocking the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream. I just had Nestlé Omega Plus® with Oats this morning and it’s so convenient in the per serving pack, there is just no excuse to not eat properly after this.

It’s easy to take charge of your heart health. Walking for 15 minutes daily reduces the risk of developing heart disease symptoms (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes) and it could potentially save your life. This is the reason why Nestle Omega Plus, as Malaysia’s heart health advocate, continues to urge Malaysians to be physically active with the 15th annual Walk-a-Mile in collaboration with YJM.

Participants and VIP at the flag off.

Key VIPS who officiated this year’s Walk-A-Mile included Datuk Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Seri Mhd Amin Nordin bin Abd Aziz; President of Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM), Tun Ahmad Sarji bin Abdul Hamid; and Executive Director, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad, Chew Soi Ping. Notable representatives from Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM) also participated in the event, including Tan Sri Dato’ Kamaruzzaman Shariff, Datuk Dr. J.S. Sambhi; Dato’ Gurbakhash Singh. Other guests included Dr. Ng Wai Kiat from National Heart Association Malaysia (NHAM),TV hosts Gary Wong from Ho Chak! And Naz from Jalan Jalan Cari Makan.

Photo above: Chew Soi Ping presented a cheque from Nestlé Omega Plus® totalling RM30,000 to Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM) towards the continuous support on the efforts and dedication of YJM to educate the public on heart health matters.

From L-R: Eliza Mohamed, Director of Group Corporate Affairs, Nestlé Malaysia; Ng Su Yen, Business Executive Manager, Milks, Nestlé Malaysia; Dato Gurbakhash Singh, Vice Chairman, Yayasan Jantung Malaysia; YBhg Datuk Dr. J.S.Sambhi, Chairman, Yayasan Jantung Malaysia; YBhg Tan Sri Dato Kamaruzzaman bin Shariff, Vice-President, Yayasan Jantung Malaysia; YABhg Tun Dato Seri Ahmad Sarji bin Abdul Hamid, President, Yayasan Jantung Malaysia; YBhg Datuk Seri Mhd Amin Nordin bin Abd Aziz, Datuk Bandar Kuala Lumpur; Chew Soi Ping, Executive Director, Sales, Nestlé Malaysia

This year’s Walk-A-Mile concept featured various surprise challenges along the route, health screenings, lucky draws, and many more fun activities. Let’s see what touched and surprised me through the one mile walk!

Firstly, stormtroopers decided to Save a heart too, though I’m sure they didn’t have any, so kudos to them!

Lots of parents with small children came along for the fun and health factor. It was an inspiration to see this as it is not convenient at all to bring the kids out this early! Yet, these parents are teaching their children a very valuable lesson about putting their health above their own enjoyment.

Though it wasn’t a run that we need a lot of motivation to complete, it was still nice to have pretty cheerleaders cheering the crowd on!
Not to mention the cutie hearts mascots that is big and soft and so popular with all walkers. The organisers were pleased that younger people are now more aware of heart health and taking the intiative to join the event to create awareness with their friends and family.

Although this was the first Walk-A-Mile event for me, it certainly won’t be the last! I will be back next year!

For more information on Nestlé Omega Plus® and Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM), visit www.facebook.com/NestleOmegaPlus  and www.yjm.org.my.

1 Ten principal causes of death in government and private hospitals in the year 2013, with Diseases of the Circulatory System being number one at 24.71%. Source from Malaysia’s Health Facts 2014, Ministry of Health, Malaysia

2 Caring For The Heart. Prof Datuk Paduka Dr Wan Azman Wan Ahmad, Professor of Medicine and Cardiology. 21-Dec-15 17:10
Retrieved from http://www.bfm.my/wan-azman-wan-ahmad-cardiology-caring-for-heart.html

3 Renganayar, C. (2016, April 24). Young people, ageing arteries. New Straits Times Online.
Retrieved from http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/04/141124/young-people-ageing-arteries

4 National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, Institute for Public Health and Ministry of Health, Malaysia