JEDDAH: A workshop conducted by a nutrition expert on Wednesday provided dietary guidelines for Saudis so they could reduce the risk of diet-related diseases, especially those related to non communicable conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, obesity and some types of cancer.
“Studies in Arab countries indicate that food habits and changes in lifestyle are the most important factors responsible for diet-related diseases,” Prof. Abdulrahman Obaid Musaiger, executive director of the Arab Center for Nutrition and chairman of the Arab Taskforce for Obesity and Physical Activity, both based in Bahrain, told a media workshop at the Jeddah Hilton. He said it was a sad fact that children and even young people were hardly involved in physical activities and instead spent most of their time in surfing the Internet or watching TV.
“Such practices, if unchecked, can make them overweight and obese and make them susceptible to disease,” he said. “Therefore, the choice of a healthy diet and regular physical activity is very important. In order to achieve and maintain a good state of health, individuals should consume sufficient quantities of a variety of different foods daily,” said Musaiger.
Food-borne disease is a great challenge in Arab countries because of the health, social and economic impact. There is, therefore, an urgent need to promote food control systems in order to protect the health and safety of domestic consumers, he said, adding that they are also critical for enabling Arab countries to assure the safety and quality of foods that they import and ensure that all products conform to national requirements. Referring to the proliferation of fast food restaurants, he said: “Fast food is not bad, but you should know what to eat and what to avoid.”
The new global environment for food trade places considerable obligations on both importing and exporting countries to strengthen their food control systems, and to implement and enforce risk-based food control strategies. In order to improve the food control system in Arab countries, it is highly recommended that the governments of these countries consider tackling on a war footing diet-related diseases, he said.
