Thai consumers want healthier food products: study

[JungleBiker]

6 hours ago, geoffbezoz said:

"Thailand is facing a double burden of poor nutrition and obesity, leading to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and heart disease, which are now the top cause of death among Thais."

 

As I said in another thread that is simply untrue. The highest cause of deaths in Thailand is cancer.

 

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/leading-causes-of-death-in-thailand.html

 

Erm... cancer is a NCD! 

[attrayant]

10 minutes ago, JungleBiker said:

 

Erm... cancer is a NCD! 

 

The quoted statement says that diabetes and heart disease are now the top cause of death among Thais.  Whether or not cancer is communicable is beside the point.

 

[edit] and now that I re-read, they used "cause" in the singular, so maybe they're lumping the stats for diabetes and heart disease together to get their "top cause".

 

 

[overherebc]

6 hours ago, geoffbezoz said:

"Thailand is facing a double burden of poor nutrition and obesity, leading to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and heart disease, which are now the top cause of death among Thais."

 

As I said in another thread that is simply untrue. The highest cause of deaths in Thailand is cancer.

 

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/leading-causes-of-death-in-thailand.html

Driving while you have cancer doubles your chances of an early exit.

[ZeVonderBearz]

How do countries in the tropics get themselves into such pickles? There is everything that anyone could ever possibly need out there available on the land. 

[rvaviator]

In my older age, I avoid rice whenever possible. But it does make eating Thai food a chore as so many dishes are designed for rice. 

How about brown rice ?


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sammieuk1]

You can buy a heathy can of Brook baked beans for a very unhealthy £1.58 in big C and I have worked out what the C stands for????

[Brigand]

You pay for what you get fools ... can't have your cheap cake and expect to eat it and be healthy too.

[Yinn]

6 hours ago, DrTuner said:

I wonder if Thais would know what's healthy even if it was slapped on their face.

 

6 hours ago, Benroon said:

A third organic farm has just opened up near me, so I'm guessing yes.

 

 

 

5 hours ago, robblok said:

Just like foreigners you go Thais that are into exercise and health but they just like with foreigners are not a majority. I see a lot of Thais exercising in the park in front of my home.

 

So sure Thais know what is healthy but not all.. just like most foreigners here care more about beer then exercise and eating healthy. (Yes there are plenty of members who do exercise and eat healthy but I am sure there are more that don't)

Is Dr Tuner blind?

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_body_mass_index

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

56 minutes ago, rvaviator said:

How about brown rice ?
 

 

The problem is Thai Jasmine rice, the white variety especially, but even brown Jasmine rice to a somewhat lesser extent.

 

The white Jasmine rice especially causes a substantial and rapid spike in blood sugar levels, which is bad for one's health, much more so than even other varieties of white rice typically found in the West.

 

Jasmine white rice is the antithesis of complex carbohydrates.

 

[Ulic]

Of course everyone want healthier food that tastes just as good as unhealthy food (filled with sugar and fat, which bye the way is delicious), as for cost, cheaper or the same. People don't want to pay more for anything. No surprise here with this report.

[Destiny1990]

6 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

Your first sentence says they need to start checking for pesticide residues, presumably to see if there is a problem.  Your next sentence says there is a problem. Which is it?

 

I don't disagree that chemical farm inputs need to be managed, monitored, regulated, etc.  But I think there is already an agency responsible for this, isn't there?  

 

 

 

Enough with the chemophobia.  As long as residues aren't excessive at the point of sale, the only people at risk from farming chemicals are the farmers themselves.  An outright ban of pesticides will result in more than 50% losses in crop yield.  A lot less fresh fruits & veggies at the supermarket - what do you think THAT will to do the health of the general population?  It'll be a lot worse that a few parts per million of atrazine on your veggies before you wash them. 

 

The following post is more realistic:

 

 

Pesticides cost money. No farmer wants to spend the time and money applying pesticides unless they have a serious pest problem.  As pointed out, pest pressure is much greater in tropical ecosystems.  Applicators should be trained and licensed.  Investments should be made in crop varieties and cultivars that are naturally pest resistant, so little or no pesticide needs to be applied at all.  The right balance needs to be found between chemical defense levels and crop yield.  I agree with the conclusion reached by that poster: good luck with that.  I'm just dreading the day the whole "organic" food and "all natural" nonsense takes hold here.

 

Government needs to make capital investments in the farming sector, for both technology and educating the farmers.

 

As to the OP, consumers need to manage their intake of fats, oils, sugars (all types, not just granulated table sugar) and minerals.  Most people should probably be eating less and moving around more.  The mention of MSG is ridiculous because that substance appears in many food products naturally.  Cooks may add a few grams more, but if somebody has a personal problem with it, that's not a national issue.

 

 

They should work with internationally approved chemicals only..

That is not the case now and hence my concern.

[robblok]

10 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

Your first sentence says they need to start checking for pesticide residues, presumably to see if there is a problem.  Your next sentence says there is a problem. Which is it?

 

I don't disagree that chemical farm inputs need to be managed, monitored, regulated, etc.  But I think there is already an agency responsible for this, isn't there?  

 

 

 

I guess you havent been following the news in Thailand whenever there is a check and its rare almost all products are over the limits with pesticides both in markets and in supermarkets. There have been numerous articles over the years and none of them were good.

 

There might be an agency but its clearly not doing its work.

[Grusa]

16 hours ago, geoffbezoz said:

"Thailand is facing a double burden of poor nutrition and obesity, leading to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and heart disease, which are now the top cause of death among Thais."

 

As I said in another thread that is simply untrue. The highest cause of deaths in Thailand is cancer.

 

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/leading-causes-of-death-in-thailand.html

Think again. From your source, "Cancer (19%) is the leading cause of death in Thailand, followed by Ischemic (12%) heart disease and stroke (10%)."

As the latter two are both caused by sugar, and/or carbohydrates which are turned into sugars by the body, and  sugars 'feed' cancers, there is no doubt that sugar is the leading factor in most debilitating and deadly diseases. Also it is more addictive than cocaine, Big Food and Big Pharma know this, and use sugar both to drive food sales and to keep the population sick, hence medication sales.

Big Food does not care about health, only about sales.

Big Pharma would be decimated if disease caused by sugar disappeared. Their motto is "keep them alive, but keep them sick".

[geoffbezoz]

57 minutes ago, Grusa said:

Think again. From your source, "Cancer (19%) is the leading cause of death in Thailand, followed by Ischemic (12%) heart disease and stroke (10%)."

As the latter two are both caused by sugar, and/or carbohydrates which are turned into sugars by the body, and  sugars 'feed' cancers, there is no doubt that sugar is the leading factor in most debilitating and deadly diseases. Also it is more addictive than cocaine, Big Food and Big Pharma know this, and use sugar both to drive food sales and to keep the population sick, hence medication sales.

Big Food does not care about health, only about sales.

Big Pharma would be decimated if disease caused by sugar disappeared. Their motto is "keep them alive, but keep them sick".

Total nonsense. The leading cause of deaths is stated as cancer. Quite amassing you are disputing medical facts . But hey carry on with your prejudice against the big stores. Perhaps you should go and site outside one of the main global food companies with a banner saying stop adding suger to your products because it fits my argument as the facts are wrong . ????????????????

[Eric Loh]

11 hours ago, rvaviator said:

How about brown rice ?


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Wise decision. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/10307790

[JungleBiker]

14 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

The quoted statement says that diabetes and heart disease are now the top cause of death among Thais.  Whether or not cancer is communicable is beside the point.

 

[edit] and now that I re-read, they used "cause" in the singular, so maybe they're lumping the stats for diabetes and heart disease together to get their "top cause".

 

 

 

I am sorry to say but apparently reading comprehension is not one of your strong points. If you read it correctly, the article says non-communicable diseases are the top cause of death among Thais.

 

Non-communicable diseases include cancer, as well as diabetes, heart disease and many others. 

 

 

[SoilSpoil]

More and more Thais eat 7-11 food, sushi triangles, microwave meals, all copied from the Japanese. Big difference is that the 7-11 in Tokyo has salads, fish and fruits on display. Very unhealthy the way Thai eat these days.

 

Also, and this is just observation, markets and supermarkets hardly sell quality fruits and veggies anymore. How come? Thai farmers have turned from feeding the locals to feeding export markets and animals.

[attrayant]

6 hours ago, robblok said:

I guess you havent been following the news in Thailand whenever there is a check and its rare almost all products are over the limits with pesticides both in markets and in supermarkets. There have been numerous articles over the years and none of them were good.

 

 

That may be because we hear only about the checks that fail.  

 

Interesting information from a 2012 study: Agricultural Pesticide Management in Thailand: Situation and Population Health Risk

 

At present, 98 pesticides are prohibited for use on crops in Thailand, making it the Asian country with the largest number of banned pesticides.

 

However:

 

Over 20,000 pesticide formulations (accounting for 80% of all pesticides used in Thailand) are licensed for production [...] At present, there are over 26,000 retailers who are licensed to directly sell (with no restriction except they must correctly provide product information) agricultural chemicals including pesticides to any buyers or farmers as long as the products are legal to sell. However, many more unlicensed pesticide retailers exist. Due to the large number of unlicensed retailers, the point of sale is ineffectively controlled, resulting in the purchase of unregistered pesticides, substandard pesticide solutions, and the sale of prohibited pesticides

 

I don't want to get too much into pesticides because, as I said in an earlier post, that's not a major factor (and probably not even a minor one) in consumer dietary health.

[robblok]

13 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

That may be because we hear only about the checks that fail.  

 

Interesting information from a 2012 study: Agricultural Pesticide Management in Thailand: Situation and Population Health Risk

 

At present, 98 pesticides are prohibited for use on crops in Thailand, making it the Asian country with the largest number of banned pesticides.

 

However:

 

Over 20,000 pesticide formulations (accounting for 80% of all pesticides used in Thailand) are licensed for production [...] At present, there are over 26,000 retailers who are licensed to directly sell (with no restriction except they must correctly provide product information) agricultural chemicals including pesticides to any buyers or farmers as long as the products are legal to sell. However, many more unlicensed pesticide retailers exist. Due to the large number of unlicensed retailers, the point of sale is ineffectively controlled, resulting in the purchase of unregistered pesticides, substandard pesticide solutions, and the sale of prohibited pesticides

 

I don't want to get too much into pesticides because, as I said in an earlier post, that's not a major factor (and probably not even a minor one) in consumer dietary health.

I guess we differ about this then I think its a major issue if vegetables and fruits are full of pesticides. We are talking each and every check failed.60% of the vegetables on markets and in supermarkets were found to be contaminated. So if you don't think that is major we should agree to disagree.

 

I am not sure how long you have lived here but checks are not done correctly or are blatantly ignored. 

 

Over 60% of popular vegetables sold at shopping malls and markets are contaminated with a cocktail of pesticides farmers use to boost yields and ensure year-round sales, a food safety network warned Friday.

The Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN), a non-governmental organisation, conducted a survey on nine vegetables and six types of fruit in Bangkok and four other provinces in late August./quote]

 

just google for this and see the article.

 

[attrayant]

47 minutes ago, robblok said:

I guess we differ about this then I think its a major issue if vegetables and fruits are full of pesticides. We are talking each and every check failed.60% of the vegetables on markets and in supermarkets were found to be contaminated. So if you don't think that is major we should agree to disagree.

 

When you use highly subjective and alarming phrases like "full of pesticides", then 'agree to disagree' is all we have left because you've taken us outside the sphere of rational, objective discourse. You make it sound like paraquat comes squirting out of a peach when it's bitten into.  

 

I've seen the reports and participated in the discussions we've had here.  The one you quote from The Post has NO mention of what the actual levels were, so it is next to useless.  Was the residue 50 or 100 micrograms instead of ten?  That's hardly "full of pesticides" and still two to three orders of magnitude below the NOAEL.  In the graphic below, these vanishingly small residue levels are shown to scale:

 

 

While these levels are for the US, I'd still like to see the numbers for Thailand but probably they would still be well within the ADI.  They might not be under the .5% mark that more than 90% of the produce in the states measures at, but even fifty or a hundred times that amount is still well within the ADI.  I wonder where on this graph you'd consider a piece of fruit to be "full of pesticides".

 

 

47 minutes ago, robblok said:

I am not sure how long you have lived here but checks are not done correctly or are blatantly ignored. 

 

 

What does how long I've lived here have to do with whether or not checks are done incorrectly?  I'm not seeing the relevance.

 

In any event, I am familiar with the activist organization "Pesticide Action Network" and would not trust them to act as a watchdog any more than I would trust PETA to make an accurate undercover video of how farmers treat their animals or the Australian Vaccination Network to present accurate information on the safety of vaccines.  These groups aim to terrify citizens about the safety of their food supply by establishing arbitrary, non-scientific standards that benefit their corporate donors.

 

I want taxpayer-funded regulatory agencies to do their jobs properly.

 

[robblok]

8 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

When you use highly subjective and alarming phrases like "full of pesticides", then 'agree to disagree' is all we have left because you've taken us outside the sphere of rational, objective discourse. You make it sound like paraquat comes squirting out of a peach when it's bitten into.  

 

I've seen the reports and participated in the discussions we've had here.  The one you quote from The Post has NO mention of what the actual levels were, so it is next to useless.  Was the residue 50 or 100 micrograms instead of ten?  That's hardly "full of pesticides" and still two to three orders of magnitude below the NOAEL.  In the graphic below, these vanishingly small residue levels are shown to scale:

 

 

While these levels are for the US, I'd still like to see the numbers for Thailand but probably they would still be well within the ADI.  They might not be under the .5% mark that more than 90% of the produce in the states measures at, but even fifty or a hundred times that amount is still well within the ADI.  I wonder where on this graph you'd consider a piece of fruit to be "full of pesticides".

 

 

 

What does how long I've lived here have to do with whether or not checks are done incorrectly?  I'm not seeing the relevance.

 

In any event, I am familiar with the activist organization "Pesticide Action Network" and would not trust them to act as a watchdog any more than I would trust PETA to make an accurate undercover video of how farmers treat their animals or the Australian Vaccination Network to present accurate information on the safety of vaccines.  These groups aim to terrify citizens about the safety of their food supply by establishing arbitrary, non-scientific standards that benefit their corporate donors.

 

I want taxpayer-funded regulatory agencies to do their jobs properly.

 

I think you lost the discussion when you started to use US figures on Thailand.

 

When I asked how long you have lived here it was to get a clue about your knowledge of Thailand. When buildings are not inspected or stopped by the government office that should do it and they only react like if a crane falls on a school then what chance do controls of pesticide have of happening here. I am talking about the general Thai attitude to upholding the law and doing the work they actually paid for. (look at the police for instance)

 

Lets just agree to disagree this will lead to no where as I doubt there are actual figures available besides those from the pesticide action network and other organisations that care. I doubt the government would release anything. 

[Burma Bill]

CP and 7-11 take note!!!

[myjawe]

On 6/19/2019 at 12:40 PM, marcusarelus said:

Ha ha ha ha.  Can't write.  Laughing too much.

 

Me too, as if Thai knew anything about healthy food !

If they had a rest of a brain they could already stop drinking all the $hit drinks that they drink daily....

 

 

[Youlike]

On 6/19/2019 at 11:31 AM, Tayaout said:

I made my mother in law switch from vegetable oil to coconut oil as long as I pay. They think I'm nuts to pay 200 baht vs 20 baht. They all have diabetes and high pressure issues. I did not try to convince them to lower their sugar input yet but maybe with some luck they might like stevia. 

My wife hates stevia, but it's funny because sometimes she suspects me of putting stevia in her coffee while i didn't....how can she hate stevia if she's even not tasting the difference?

[balo]

You can still eat a healthy balanced diet in Thailand , you just need to do some research first. Combine locally produced food with some clean imports, Drink plenty of water and avoid the sugar stuff.  

[Nowisee]

We all should want to eat healthier foods and regular exercise.

 

With the level of deception here it's nearly impossible to buy anything that truly labeled.