When you think of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), your mind probably pictures the prosperity of Dubai with the outlandish amounts of money spent on the buildings and amazing marvels. The UAE is certainly very rich at the moment, but this increase in wealth has brought with it a number of health problems that only tend to occur in prosperous nations. Two of the most prominent of these are diabetes and obesity.
The problem was highlighted at the American Society for Nutrition Middle East Congress, it was stated that the combination of diabetes and obesity (now being referred to as the portmanteau ‘diabesity’) is becoming a very serious problem in the country. The two conditions are likely to trigger each other, which is why there is such a high prevalence of both occurring.
Occurrences of ‘diabesity’ are rising at an alarming rate. Recent figures have placed UAE seventh out of 177 countries on the Global Fat Scale. It is calculated using data on population size and estimates of global weight from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO has also suggested that around 20 percent of the adult population of UAE are overweight or obese.
It’s not better when you look at young people. According to statistics, around 15.5 percent of schoolchildren are obese and 39.2 percent are overweight. Perhaps more worrying is that 21 percent consume fast food at least three times a day.
Without the intervention of a healthy diet and regular exercise, obesity can easily develop, which only increases the chances of developing type 2 diabetes. The majority of cases of diabetes in the UAE are directly attributable to obesity.
The figures are not as up-to-date as many of the authorities would like, and a new survey has been proposed to better understand the genuine scale of the problem.
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