JEDDAH, 21 November 2003 — There is a crisis in health awareness among Arabs, according to Dr. Abdul Rahman Musaiger, the head of the first Arab Center for Nutrition.
“The economic boom in our region has changed our society and lifestyle, giving us high food purchasing and consumption power without the necessary awareness of the consequences to our health,” Dr. Musaiger told Arab News recently.
“This lack of awareness is reflected in some sociocultural barriers, such as discouraging women to exercise,” he said. Dr. Musaiger also blamed the media for spreading dietary misconceptions and focusing on sensational rather than beneficial information.
“We’ve adopted a Western lifestyle without considering our traditions and environment. We also began looking at ‘alternative medicine’ when Islamic medicine provided the basics for good health,” he added.
The problem begins in childhood. “Parents use food as reward or punishment, which is wrong. They don’t educate the child about the benefits of food such as vegetables and fruit and instead try to force the child to eat them without acting as role models.”
There is also the problem of lack of physical activity, especially among women. “Television plays a role in the weight increase among children, particularly girls,” said Dr. Musaiger. “Fat accumulation in the body begins at age one of the child’s life. It decreases during the pre-school years and then it increases again and peaks during adolescence, which is the age children in our region are the least active.”
This leads to an adulthood of obesity, a major cause of such diseases such as heart, diabetes and blood pressure. “The percentage of obesity in the Gulf region is higher than in Europe, and diabetes is the highest in the world,” he said. “Unfortunately, Arab governments do not focus enough on the preventive side of medicine.”
