‘People think obesity is normal’ – How Indonesian Nutrition Association president is taking to social media to fight the fat

Dr Luciana Sutanto is the latest guest on our NutraChampion podcast. 

The clinical nutrition specialist is especially concerned about the problem of obesity in the country, although the Indonesian government has also listed other health issues, such as anaemia as areas of concern.

“The government has listed four nutritional problems, lack of energy and protein intake, iodine deficiency disorder, anaemia, and vitamin E deficiency. ​

“But I have additional concern in the area of obesity and nutrition posts [circulating on the internet], because obesity has an impact on metabolic disease, one’s appearance, and psychological problems. ​

“[Also], obesity affects people of all ages and nowadays, in Indonesia, people are starting to think that obesity is normal, this is due to the increasing prevalence of obesity,” ​Dr Sutanto said.

Another alarming figure that she shared was that 47 per cent of the adult women, or almost one in two women in Indonesia was obese.

“That is why I am trying to share knowledge about obesity and how to avoid it,” ​she added.

For instance, she has been educating the public the importance of good nutrition via social media platforms – an area she has been focusing more on after stepping down as the CEO of the family run Gladiool Mother’s & Child’s Hospital.

Her talks can be found on platforms such as Instagram and some of the talks were organised together with industry players such as Kalbe Nutritionals and more recently, Subway.

Through the online engagements, she also hopes to tackle the issue of inaccurate information on nutrition spreading on the internet.

The association also organises the NUTRI Symposium annually where there would be presentations by researchers and experts specialising in the nutrition field. Next year's NUTRI Symposium will be held from July 29 to 30.

Listen to the podcast to find out more.