Kuwait 5th Most Obese Nation On Earth

The Movenpick-Al Bidaa Hotel in collaboration with Al-Salam Hospital organized a press conference at the hotel premises on Thursday to unveil a Children’s Healthy Eating Menu for the hotel’s restaurants and home service. The event which was attended by officials of the hotel as well as members of the media, saw the Executive Chef of the hotel, Simon Spelling and Aya Samara, Al-Salam Hospital’s Nutritionist, take turns to throw light on the importance of the introduction of healthy diets to children.

Explaining the new concept of children’s menu for the hotel’s restaurants, Spelling stated that the food which first of all includes lentils and additional fibers comes with a lot of fruits and vegetables. The burgers are served with lentils, thus making it a balanced meal. According to Spelling what makes the healthy menu different is that the food is served with toys accompanying them to make it more attractive for the children.

Explaining the pieces of the slides being shown at the event, Samara said according to the World Health Organization expert consultation on obesity, the scourge of obesity could put populations at risk of developing communicable diseases.

As many as 250 million people, about 7% of the world population are obese. Experts have looked at the trend and said if it continues into 2015, approximately 2.3 billion of all people will be overweight with more than 700 million becoming obese.

Defining obesity, Samara said it is an abnormal accumulation of fat which leads eventually to type2 Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and strokes. As to why Childhood Obesity is a problem today, Samara stated that it can lead to diabetes and heart disease which can naturally happen to children, thus the special focus being given to it.

Childhood Obesity prevalence in the Middle East in the 1970s was between 4 and 5% and increased to 17.6% in 2006, with more than one third of all adolescents and children being obese in 2008. At a recent first annual obesity conference in Kuwait, it was disclosed that Kuwait was the fifth most obese nation on Earth; she said.