Over half the UAE population is overweight

More than half the people in the UAE suffer from obesity, according to recent studies, said Dr Rima Khadra, a nutrition specialist from Hoffmann La Roche who took part in a symposium on "Obesity and its Risks".

The symposium, organised by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with Dubai Police and Hoffmann La Roche, targeted about 250 police officers and staff.

Lt. Col. Mohammed Abdullah Sulaiman, director of maintenance in the General Services and Equipment Department, said in his opening speech that obesity was a result of the modern lifestyle. A person who does not exercise enough cannot burn the calories he consumes. He advised people to change their nutrition habits and their calorie intake.

Khadra spoke on obesity and its risks. She said that 50 per cent of the people in the UAE suffer from obesity, a percentage considered one of the world's highest.

It therefore followed that the rates in the country of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blood pressure, joints and knee pains are also high. Weight loss and maintenance is a long-term process, said Wafa Abu Ali, head of the Health Education Section in the Ministry of Health. She noted that small easy-to-live-with changes are better than drastic measures.

Losing just five to ten per cent of one's weight can lead to significant health improvements, she said. "In order to stay healthy, consider reducing fat intake, eating three regular meals daily, increasing your physical activity, and brisk walking several times a week," she added.

Dr Mustafa Sharawi, head of the police Clinic Section, said that 15 years ago obesity was more prevalent among women than men, but now the balance is equal. Meanwhile, blame it on genetics. Or blame it on lack of physical education at school. Better yet, blame it on the Internet. Whatever you blame it on, obesity is one of the biggest nutritional problems weighing heavily on kids across the UAE.

The finding was published in a booklet on "Family Guidance for Nutrition", recently issued by the Ministry of Health's Maternity and Childcare Department. While it's an ever-expanding problem in the population, Mayo Clinic paediatricians assert that childhood obesity is best dealt with through prevention, rather than when the weight has already piled on.

"Treatment of childhood obesity is very difficult. Efforts to slim the child invariably result in failure and even psychological harm," said Robert Jacobson, a Mayo Clinic paediatric specialist. "Balance is the key," said Philip Fischer, also a Mayo clinic paediatric specialist. "Children need proper balance between eating, exercise and other activities."

The experts concur that parents should help balance the scale by focusing on avoiding the problem in the first place. Parents must make proper decisions about nutrition and exercise and help their children to be in control of their bodies.

Regardless of age, a person gains excess weight when the number of calories consumed is greater than the number burned. But weight gain is affected by various other factors, in addition to caloric intake. Factors may include:

* Genetics - Kids with overweight parents are more likely to be overweight

* Slow metabolism - factors and habits that increase or decrease metabolism are how much kids exercise, medical conditions or medications, food quantity and quality and skipping meals.

* Environment - Genetics and metabolism set the basis for obesity, and then environment is the determining factor.

Some examples include:

* The "clean your plate" mentality, which encourages kids to eat more than necessary.

* Insufficient physical exercise daily

* Insufficient fitness-minded role models. When not many adults are moving, kids aren't easily motivated. In addition, when adults eat out of habit rather than out of genuine hunger, children tend to pick up inappropriate eating habits as well.

Not sitting down at a proper mealtime setting offers another fat chance. "It is best not to dilute the valuable eating experience with other concurrent activities," Fischer said.

"Children should sit down to eat so they can focus on the mealtime. The common habit of eating while walking is not advised. Children seem better able to maintain their appropriate weight when they avoid eating while watching TV and movies."