SPEECH BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND COORDINATING MINISTER FOR SOCIAL POLICIES, AT THE NATIONAL HEART WEEK – WORLD HEART DAY EVENT, 3 OCTOBER 2026

Ladies and gentlemen 

 1.       Good afternoon. Very pleased to join you today for National Heart Week at Heartbeak@Bedok. I will talk about food and exercise and lifestyle in general. I think as mentioned earlier, heart health is not built in hospitals and clinics, but is built through daily life through our individual choices. 

Encouraging Progress in Lifestyle Behaviours  

2.      I think more Singaporeans are making the right choices. And this is shown in our latest National Population Health Survey. The results are not out; they will be out very shortly. But today, let me give you a preview. There’s good news and there’s also bad news. I start with the good news.  

3.      The survey showed proportion of residents with sufficient total physical activity has risen further. Two years ago, 2023, was 78.5%. Now, 2025, latest survey - 87.3%. Just to explain, it used to be at a fairly high level, and during COVID years, it really plunged. It took us many years to climb back up, and now it surpassed pre-COVID numbers. So that’s very good for Singaporeans.  

4.      Daily smoking rates remain below 9%. This year it went up slightly. Previous year, 8.4%. This year, 8.8%. I think overall we are still seeing a downward trend in terms of smoking. Still good news. 

5.      More people are going for recommended health screenings. Chronic disease screening has increased: 62.6% in 2023 to 71.5% in 2025.  Diabetes screening, over the same period, increased 76.7% to 82.5%, colorectal cancer screening, has risen from 41.7% to 46.9%, breast cancer screening 34.7% to 40.8%. Still have some way to climb, but now all the levels surpass pre-COVID-19 levels.  

6.      So these are encouraging trends, and they are consistent with Singapore’s broader shift towards preventive health since the rollout of Healthier SG in 2023, which is why I’m comparing to 2023. As of end-August 2026, 1.5 million residents, or 61% of the eligible population have enrolled in Healthier SG, and great majority have completed their Health Plan, and going back to their GP for reviews.   

7.      So by staying physically active, avoiding smoking, going for regular screenings, managing your chronic conditions, we can significantly reduce our risk of health or heart disease.  What we eat is also playing a major impact on our heart health. On that front, I don’t think we are doing that well. So, here comes the bad news. 

The Next Challenge: Our Diet 

8.      The latest National Nutrition Survey, we do both surveys at the same time, nutrition survey and population health survey. It paints a mixed picture of how we are eating.  

9.      There is some positivity. We are consuming less sugar. Before we had our Nutri-Grade measures for beverages, 2018 - the average daily total sugar intake was about 60 grams per person. And this has dropped down to 48 grams in 2025. So that is equivalent to cutting down 2.5 teaspoons of sugar every day.  

10.      And this is largely, I think, due to residents consuming less sugar from  
sugar-sweetened drinks, pre-packaged beverages, and this is driven, in turn, by the industry reformulating their drinks, and also consumers making a conscious shift towards lower-sugar options.  And better still, I don’t think Singaporeans are missing it. I think over time, because of Nutri-Grade, our palate actually changed. We actually desire less sweet drinks, and so it’s not very uncommon for Singaporeans to order Kopi-O Kosong, Kopi-O Siu Dai, Teh Siu Dai. And when we eat dessert, sometimes we say this dessert is good, not so sweet. So our taste buds are changing, which is good. 

11.      However, we are eating too much salt, sauces, fat, and also we are generally eating too much. About 6 in 10 residents are consuming more daily calories than required.  Our average calorie intake has been creeping up, from 2,360 Calories per day in 2019 to now 2,460 Calories in the latest survey. So it grew about 100 calories per day per person. It may not sound like a lot, but if you consume 100 calories more than what we need every day and sustain it over time, it can contribute to about 5kg of weight gain per year.  And the impact is more than just the clothes that doesn’t fit, but you increase the risk of obesity and heart disease. 

12.      Sodium has become a big problem. And I want to sound an alarm bell here. Our consumption of sodium is really skyrocketing. The average sodium intake in 2025 has increased to 4,000 milligrams (mg). This is double the recommended daily sodium limit of about 2,000mg. So in fact, 95% of residents in Singapore have exceeded the daily limit of 2,000mg for sodium.  

13.      We all know, excessive sodium raises blood pressure, increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. It explains why, and I think this is a major driver. Every day, over 60 people in Singapore suffer heart attacks and strokes. One in three deaths in Singapore is due to heart disease.  

14.      If we suffer a heart attack or stroke, it is not just us who suffer, but our families and loved ones will also be affected.  Our health is therefore not just ours alone. And the risk of heart attack and stroke is often linked to what we eat on a daily basis.  

A Greater Push for Healthier Diet 

15.      So I think we need a bigger push on healthier diet. At least move away from a diet that over time leads to severe diseases. We have some successes in lowering sugar consumption, and I think we need to do this for sodium as well. 

16.      The longer-term measure is to extend Nutri-Grade measures to salt, sauces, seasonings, instant noodles and cooking oils. This will take effect only in 2028 because we need to provide a sufficiently long transition time for the industry to reformulate their products, and they are working on it.   

17.      In the meantime, during our consultations with industry, one of the feedback areas touches on the fact that consumers increasingly value convenience when they cook at home. So food companies have been coming up with all-in-one sauces. So you use all-in-one sauces, you cook with the ingredients, you don’t have to add any more salt and sauces, or any other things. 

18.      This presents us with an opportunity.  With healthier all-in-one sauces that contain less sodium, we can help shape the palate of Singaporeans. We can have a separate product category for all-in-one sauces, with its own Nutri-Grade grading.  When consumers taste a dish cooked with a Grade A or B all-in-one sauce, they can discover that good taste does not need too much salt and salty sauces. On the contrary, in good cooking, it is often about ‘less salt you use, more taste you taste’. But our tongue needs to get used to it, takes about one month or three weeks.      

19.      But we still need to address the main driver of rising sodium in the Singaporean diet, which is that more Singaporeans, more of us, we are eating out more often, and each dish is getting saltier. I mentioned earlier our daily limit - 2,000mg of sodium. A typical bowl of prawn noodles or Mee Soto contain 3,500 - 4,000 mg of sodium. So you eat that whole bowl of noodles plus drink all the soup - two days worth of sodium consumed in one dish. And that’s almost twice the daily limit just from one dish. Now I really don’t understand this. A Mala hotpot contains almost 6,000 mg, three times more than what we should take in a day, which is totally unnecessary because it is Mala, you don’t taste it anyway. But still, we add so much sodium into a Mala hotpot.  

20.      I often hear customers complaining that the food is too salty. Actually, it’s true. I go to any hawker centre, any coffee shop, survey the patrons, and say is the food too salty? About half of them, mostly those who cook at home, will tell you it is too salty. I complain too and I avoid the stalls that serve food that is too salty. At the same time, we speak to the F&B operators and the hawkers, they often will tell you, “I am willing to offer healthier choices, put less sodium, put less salt, but I don’t know whether my customers want that. I think my customers want something salty.” So I think customers and preparers are not talking to each other.  

21.      For consumers, I urge, when dining out, make it a habit if you can, request less salt and soya sauce if possible. I also urge all our hawkers and chefs to cut back on the salt and salty sauces. Instead of one ladle, just put half. 

22.      On the ground, HPB will continue to get more F&B establishments to use lower-sodium ingredients. The number has increased from 500 four years ago to 3,000 now, but it is not enough to reverse the worrying diet trend.  We need a very serious effort to step up engagement with the F&B industry to try to address this issue.   

Building a Healthier Community Together 

23.      Today’s event brought together different partners committed to working together towards a healthier population. I would like to thank the Singapore Heart Foundation, its Board members, partners, staff and volunteers for your dedication and commitment. Let us continue this journey together. Good heart health is not achieved overnight. It is built one choice at a time, one meal at a time, one day at a time. Thank you.