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Riyadh: Saudi Arabia spends around $3 billion (Dh11 billion) every year for obesity-related consultations and treatment, medical sources said in press statements yesterday.
More than three million Saudis are classified as obese, the sources added. The sources attributed this trend to poor diet and lack of exercise.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) health experts noted the increasing rate in diabetes and other illnesses among the population of the GCC member states was due to the rapid modernisation of life in these countries.
The GCC states have been recording higher rates of illnesses associated with obesity, according to a study carried out in 2005. The study found 70 per cent of women and 50 per cent of men in the six GCC states were obese.
Gulf News has learned that there is a significant trend among health and nutrition specialists to cut the rate of obesity in Saudi Arabia. As a result a number of studies were conducted in a bid to overcome this problem.
Roughly all studies have recommended a national prevention programme with involvement of schools to avoid obesity-related morbidity in adulthood.
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