JEDDAH, 7 March 2004 — Walking in a park in Riyadh the other day was a family of six: a mother, three daughters and two sons. The children were between 10 and 20. Had they been in Paris or Amsterdam or London, they would certainly have been noticed. Not for what they wore but for their size. Their collective weight must have been a ton. Apart from one of the sons who was thin, they were enormous. They did not walk; they waddled and as they waddled, they ate, perhaps worried that they might lose a kilo or two from the exercise.
Obesity is now a major problem in Saudi Arabia among men and women. Overweight women, overweight young women and grossly overweight young women are becoming very common sights on city streets, in shops and in supermarkets.
In a crowded Jeddah supermarket, an extremely overweight little girl, about eight years old, sat in a shopping trolley pushed by her adoring father. Her mother pushed a second trolley filled with shopping. Passing the cake stand, the girl wailed and her father immediately bought a box containing two large cream-filled éclairs. Unable to restrain herself, the child ripped the box open and straightaway consumed both. It seemed apparent that the father had been trained to respond to her wails with the Pavlovian response of feeding her. Judging by her size, this had been going on for years. The child had no idea what was happening to her, focusing only on sating a well-developed appetite for sweet cakes. The father, clearly oblivious to his swollen daughter, either did not know or perhaps care that he was laying the foundations of a high health-risk life for his child.
For years, obesity was an unspoken, hidden issue. Not now. It is out in the open. Recent discussions in the Shoura Council on introducing physical education in girls’ schools have prompted a debate on exercise in Saudi women’s lives. A Shoura Council member said to Arab News that the issue had received “considerable attention and was discussed thoroughly, taking into consideration the benefits of physical education to girls’ health, our cultural environment and Islamic principles.”
Some Shoura members voted against discussing the issue for technical reasons. Dr. Hussein Al-Alawi, president of the education affairs and scientific research committee and one of the members who voted against discussing the issue, said that obesity among women would not be solved by introducing physical education into the curriculum but rather should be approached in a different way. Furthermore, he pointed out that studies have shown that obesity is common among boys, so “physical education had not led to the desired end.” The Shoura recommended further studies of the issue while leaning toward introducing physical education in the girls’ curriculum soon.
The Arab Center for Nutrition in cooperation with the King Faisal Specialist and Research Center in Jeddah recently hosted a seminar on the issues of eating and nutrition in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Khaled Al-Madani, director of the nutrition administration at the general directory of health affairs of Makkah region, said that weight gain had become a major health issue and the cause of a number of illnesses and diseases.
According to studies, in the last three decades obesity among adults, especially women, has increased and become a major health problem in the Kingdom. A 1999 study on obesity in Saudi Arabia among Saudis aged 14 and above, showed that 27.23 percent of males and 25.20 percent of females were overweight, with the prevalence of obesity being 13.05 percent among males and 20.26 percent among females.
The study listed several causes for obesity but for females there were other contributing factors such as spending a great deal of time indoors, having little access to sports and other physical activities, socializing frequently where eating is the main activity, repeated pregnancy and having maids to do housework. Interestingly, the studies showed that the percentage of overweight and obesity increases with older age groups and leads to more health problems. A study in 2000 on the prevalence of overweight and obesity among hypertensive and diabetic adult patients found that 46 percent of them were obese. The researchers recommended educating the public on the dangers of overweight and obesity and raising their awareness of the advantages of a healthy lifestyle. They called for including more physical activity for women since women retain fat more than men and because of their influence on children who might become obese themselves. A 1992 study found that 14 percent of pre-school children were obese.
Dr. Haza’a Al-Haza’a from King Saud University in Riyadh said, “It is important to have physical activity programs for boys and girls whether at school or at community centers; designated areas for exercise that are properly facilitated. Girls need to exercise just as much as boys.”
Dr. Saleh Al-Ansari of the Ministry of Education presented a program that promotes healthy eating in schools and showed how the program could help in improving students’ eating habits. Experts say that a multidisciplinary approach giving young people and their parents access to a team of exercise therapists, child psychologists, doctors and nutritionists is the most successful way to lose weight and keep it off.
Parents, girls, school principals and officials at the Girls Administration at the Ministry of Education expressed support for physical education in girls’ schools.
“Girls have energy that needs to be channeled,” said Ibtisam, a secondary school principal. She has noticed a growing number of overweight and obese girls in her school.
Officials at the Girls’ Administration think physical education for girls a necessity and that it could be integrated into the curriculum in ways that do not run counter to Islamic traditions.
