Perhaps the most surprising thing about this week’s findings from the UAE’s first National Nutrition Survey is just how little of surprise there is in it. The examination of 20,000 households found that 22 per cent of people in the country were obese and one in four had high blood pressure, often because of a sedentary lifestyle and a diet high in fat and salt.
The face-to-face interviews using World Health Organisation-approved questionnaires add up to a comprehensive body of research, with both Emirati and expatriate households included. This universality makes findings such as 96 per cent of those in the UAE eating too much salt particularly troubling.
And yet, this information only confirms much of what we already know about nutrition and fitness. From the time of Hippocrates, physicians have recommended that those who are overweight should moderate the amount they eat and move their bodies more. Such observational wisdom was supplemented in later eras by evidential findings, such as those by 19th-century Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet. His index for assessing optimal height v weight was later adopted for population studies, becoming the body mass index that is still used today.
When confronted by such troubling facts, many people look to health authorities to take action. However, in the context of the UAE, it is difficult to see what more can be done in policy terms. The authorities at federal and emirate level have not been found wanting when it comes to legislation and messaging. From numerous taxes on unhealthy foods to a plethora of publicly backed campaigns to promote wellness – such as the Dubai Fitness Challenge or Abu Dhabi’s Festival of Health – good nutrition really should be no mystery.
But the campaign for better health is a marathon, not a sprint. According to Nouf Khamis Al Ali, director of the Health Promotion Department at the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention, obesity is a long-term problem that requires long-term answers. “Obesity needs time to be solved,” she said this week. “The high consumption of salt and sugar, again, explains the current situation we are facing when it comes to non-communicable disease.” The National Nutrition Survey, she said, “will help us to better decide how we want to move forward and what strategies could help”.
Ms Al Ali’s insights demonstrate that there is no quick fix to societal health challenges. When one considers how long it took to reduce rates of tobacco consumption in many developed societies, long after the link with cancer and other forms of serious ill-health was scientifically proven, one can appreciate how difficult it is to change culture and habits.
Given this, it is worth considering that many of the measures in place – such as warning labels on products high in fat, salt or sugar, or the rising cost of sugary drinks – act as small nudges. Instead of aiming at sudden, 180-degree changes in attitude to nutrition and exercise, such repeated prompts could, over time, lead to more self-reflection and wiser choices. At the end of the day, our health is on our hands.
