Health360 Summit 2026: putting plant-based nutrition at the centre of the fight against non-communicable diseases

Anchay TV News – Selangor (Malaysia), 1 November 2026. Health360 Summit 2026 ran through the whole of Sunday 1 November in JC Hall 2 at Sunway University (Bandar Sunway, Selangor). The summit brought together 13 speakers, doctors, scientists and nutrition experts from Malaysia, Brazil and Singapore. Under the theme “Transforming Health Through Knowledge and Community”, it focused on the role of diet, and whole-food plant-based eating in particular, in preventing and managing non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Held for the first time, the summit had Sunway University as its main sponsor. The Malaysian Vegetarian Society (MVS) and the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) were strategic partners, and Anchay TV was the international media partner. The programme ran from 9:30 until nearly 18:00, with two keynotes, a series of topical sessions, an expert panel, an exhibition area and a cooking demonstration by Le Cordon Bleu. Delegates who work in healthcare also earned continuing professional development (CPD) points.

Opening: the IVU’s vegan nutrition guide is presented to Malaysian delegates

Organising Chair Sangeeta Krishnasamy opened the summit before a full hall. Tan Sri Dr. R. Palan, Pro Chancellor of the University of Cyberjaya, gave the Special Address. Dr. Gnanamalar, representing the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), delivered the welcome remarks.

The official opening address came from Mr. Nazli Suhardi Ibrahim, Director of the Nutrition Division at the Ministry of Health Malaysia, by video shown on the hall’s two large screens. Two days earlier he had received the IVU and MVS delegation in person at the Nutrition Division’s offices.

The host’s address was delivered by Prof. Kavita Reginald, Deputy Dean of the School of Medical and Life Sciences, on behalf of Prof. Dr. Raja Affendi Raja Ali, Dean of Sunway University’s Jeffrey Cheah medical school.

Ms. Marly Winckler, Honorary President of the IVU, brought greetings from the international vegetarian community and performed the official launch of Health360 Summit 2026. She then presented the IVU’s “Guide to Vegan Nutrition for Adults” to the guests. All the speakers and the organising committee, including Co-Organising Chair and MVS President Aina Fazlin and Dr. Vythilingam, held up the guide for a commemorative photo on stage. A group photo of the whole hall followed.

The IVU and MVS delegation had also handed the guide to ProtectHealth and to the Nutrition Division of the Ministry of Health Malaysia during working visits on 30 October, two days before the summit.

Morning session: the burden of NCDs and insulin resistance

The first block of talks framed the problem with data and disease mechanisms.

• Keynote “Clinical Application of Lifestyle Medicine” by Prof. Dr. Sivaneswaran Poobalasingam, founder and President of the Malaysian Society of Lifestyle Medicine, on bringing lifestyle medicine into everyday treatment.
• “The Burden of NCDs on Healthcare” by Dr. Aizuniza Abdullah, a public health specialist in charge of community NCD surveillance at the Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia. The talk focused on the burden non-communicable diseases place on the health system.
• Keynote “Insulin Resistance” by Prof. Dr. Eric Slywitch, MD (Brazil), Director of the IVU’s Department of Medicine and Nutrition. He expanded on the subject in the afternoon panel.

At the end of the morning, Prof. Kavita Reginald, Deputy Dean of the School of Medical and Life Sciences at Sunway University, returned to the stage with her own presentation before the lunch break. Each speaker received a token of appreciation from the organisers straight after their session.

Afternoon session: from the heart, kidneys and teeth to the daily meal

The afternoon moved from mechanisms to clinical practice and patient counselling.

• Nutritional psychiatry – Dr. Sabbitan Balakrishnan, a psychiatrist with the Ministry of Health, opened the afternoon with the chain of mechanisms that runs from ultra-processed food to leaky gut, systemic inflammation and “brain fog”.
• “Counselling Patients on Sustainable Dietary Change” – Dr. Muhammad Fairuz Abdullah, head of ProtectHealth, Ministry of Health Malaysia. He used visual props, including a “Kurang manis” (less sweet) sign, to show how to counsel patients on changing their eating habits.
• “The Cardiologist's Prescription for Prevention: Lifestyle for Heart Health” – Dr. Wong Teck Wee, interventional cardiologist and former Associate Professor at Universiti Putra Malaysia.
• “Can We Prevent CKD Before It Becomes Kidney Failure?” – Prof. Dr. Rozita Mohd, senior consultant nephrologist at the National University of Malaysia’s teaching hospital (HCTM UKM).
• Oral health, nutrition and NCDs – Dr. Navissha Devi, public health dentist, Ministry of Health.
• Evidence-based nutrition in patient care – Ashlee Chong, dietitian and co-founder of NADI Healthcare, formerly with the National Heart Institute (IJN).
• “DASH Diet and Metabolic Health” – Maria Julia Cauduro Rosa, a Brazilian clinical nutritionist now based in Lisbon.

Expert panel: medication is not the destination

The panel that closed the summit was moderated by Mr. Mohamed Ali, a former executive at the broadcaster Mediacorp (Singapore). The four panellists were Prof. Eric Slywitch, Dr. Muhammad Fairuz Abdullah, Dr. Wong Teck Wee and dietitian Ashlee Chong. The audience sent in so many questions that the session ran over time.

• Prescribing and lifestyle change: Dr. Wong said he still prescribes lipid-lowering drugs, but first gives patients two months to try changing their diet. He shared two easy rules: QQF (eat less, choose the healthier option, cut the frequency) and SOS (minimal salt, oil and sugar).
• Plant protein: Prof. Slywitch cited research showing that, gram for gram of protein, soy and whey produce the same muscle gain. He advised prioritising legumes and whole foods over protein powders or egg whites.
• Controlling the numbers is not the same as being well: according to Prof. Slywitch, medication can bring LDL, blood pressure and blood sugar to target, but a diet high in animal products and low in fibre still does harm through other mechanisms, such as TMAO, a compound produced by gut bacteria.
• The gap between evidence and reality: Ashlee Chong observed that people usually act only once they are already ill, so education has to start at school and at home, in plain language. Dr. Fairuz proposed a three-level solution: the individual, the food environment, and a “health in all policies” approach coordinated across ministries.
• Micronutrients on a plant-based diet: for vegans, vitamin B12 supplementation is essential. Calcium is found in kale, broccoli, calcium-set tofu and sesame seeds. Ashlee Chong noted that vitamin D deficiency is very common, including among people who are not vegetarian.

Closing the session, Mr. Mohamed Ali reminded the audience that “the elderly” in the statistics on population ageing are each of us in 10 to 20 years’ time, and that change is something everyone can make.

The exhibition and the Le Cordon Bleu kitchen: plant-based nutrition you can taste

From 8 a.m. the foyer outside the hall was already busy. Delegates collected their name badges, lunch vouchers and a lapel flower in green, yellow and red, the colours of the Malaysian flag. The lunch vouchers were split between four partner vegetarian restaurants: The Ganga Cafe, Roots Bistro, Loving Hut and Acik Vegan.

The exhibition area was a small market of Malaysian plant foods: the “Moringa & Ulam” stall displayed bunches of fresh moringa leaves picked from the tree (small leaves resembling Vietnam’s bồ ngót) alongside baskets of Malay-style raw herbs and butterfly pea flowers, trays of fresh green sprouts, tropical fruit, Jeng freeze-dried bell pepper snacks, the AU strawberry stall, and jars of black sesame sauce and seasonings from ChinLee's Kitchen. Visitors wrote pledge postcards on the “Your postcard pledge to the Planet” wall and tried the nutrition quiz wheel at the stall of the Nutrition Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia.

At the lunch break, guests were taken to the Le Cordon Bleu Sunway kitchen for a demonstration of plant-based cooking. The chef cooked live, with the view of the stove shown on a large screen, while the school’s students assisted. Guests tasted mini mushroom burgers and small salad bowls with corn, seaweed and crispy dried beetroot. It was a direct answer to the worry that “vegetarian food doesn’t taste good”, which the doctors raised in the panel. The culinary programme featured chefs Stephane Frelon and Sarju Ranavaya.

Vietnam’s presence, and a promise for next year

Mr. Lê Vinh Thao, the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) Representative for Asia and head of Anchay TV, attended the summit with the IVU delegation. At the end of the day he presented a MixMatch gift bag to Organising Chair Sangeeta Krishnasamy. Event photography was by Thuỳ Chi (Anchay TV).

Two days before the summit (30 October), Mr. Thao joined the IVU and MVS delegation and the organising committee for a working visit to ProtectHealth Corporation in Cyberjaya. Dr. Muhammad Fairuz Abdullah, head of ProtectHealth, received the delegation. There Mr. Thao proposed that Anchay TV support the work as a media partner, and presented gifts from Vietnamese vegan businesses.

That afternoon the delegation met the Nutrition Division of the Ministry of Health Malaysia, received by Director Nazli Suhardi Ibrahim. The delegation presented the IVU’s Guide to Vegan Nutrition and received the Malaysian Dietary Guidelines 2020 in return.

In the closing remarks, Ms. Sangeeta Krishnasamy and Dr. Vythilingam presented tokens of appreciation to the moderator and the panellists. Ms. Sangeeta thanked the organising committee, MVS, IVU, the volunteers, the sponsors (Sunway University, National Cancer Society Malaysia, ProVeg, Nadi, University of Cyberjaya) and the partners, including “Anchay TV from Vietnam”. She said this was the first Health360 Summit and that the organisers would listen to feedback so that it can continue next year. She called on every delegate to become a champion for Malaysia’s health.

The summit closed with group photos on stage and beside the Nutrition Division stall in the foyer.

Anchay TV News · Photo: Thuỳ Chi, Anchay TV