Saudi defense official says too many Saudi soldiers are overweight.
Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister said some 69% of Saudi soldiers are overweight, underscoring an increasing problem of obesity among Saudis.
The remarks, made by Deputy Defense Minister Khalid Bin Sultan at the sixth annual conference of medical care for the armed forces in the capital, Riyadh, underline an increasing problem of obesity and diet-related health problems in Saudi society.
“Maintaining physical and mental health is a basic concern to us, and is among the most important elements of combat efficiency,” he said.
In addition to obesity problems, Bin Sultan said that 30% of the soldiers have high blood pressure and high sugar levels.
According to the World Health Organization Saudi Arabia has one of the highest obesity rates in the world affecting between 30-40% of the population.
“You have to look at what is driving obesity in most countries which is an energy-dense diet with a lot of calories and a reduction of physical activities,” Tim Lobstein, director of policy at the International Association for the Study of Obesity told The Media Line. “More people are using cars and doing low-energy office work.”
“In the Middle East, we assume they have both increased the calorie intake and reduced the average work effort,” he added.
According to a UPI report Bin Sultan himself underwent gastric bypass surgery in the United States in order to lose weight.
“A survey said that 69% of those sampled suffered from obesity and overweight,” Bin Sultan said. “Another finding was that 30% suffer from high blood pressure and sugar levels, the silent killers.”
The deputy minister said he was concerned by the figures which required a more detailed analysis as to their causes and he stressed the need for periodic checkups, fitness programs and sport competitions among the armed forces.
“Passing the fitness test should be a basic prerequisite in order to get promotions, scholarships or appointments in leadership roles,” he said.
Citing reports of similar health problems, including obesity among British soldiers in Afghanistan, Lobstein said Saudi Arabia was not the first army to suffer from chubbiness in its ranks.
The item in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi detailing Bin Sultan’s comments received much talkback regarding the Saudi army’s increasingly expanding waist-line.
“I visited Saudi Arabia and I noticed the policemen were obese and frankly I was amazed at how an obese policeman could run after a thief,” wrote a reader responding to the item.
Another reader identifying herself as Fatma Al-Yamani wrote, “If 69% of the Saudi army is fat, which of course slows them down, and 30% has high blood pressure, then how can this army function at all militarily?”
Obesity is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Nutrition analysts have suggested that Saudi Arabia has become afflicted with high rates of obesity due to a trend in diets away from traditional food towards fast food, which is high in fat, sugar and salt.
Consumption of non-nutritional and high-calorie snacks is becoming common, as are fried foods and carbonated drinks. The change in eating habits, partnered with an increase in office based jobs as manual jobs are filled by millions of Asian workers, has been cited as a contributing factor to the rise in obesity levels.
Lobstein said that changing diet habits among the military and the public is a two way process.
“There’s a history of armed forces suffering ill health, leading to changes in public health,” Lobstein said. “When the UK was recruiting for the Boer war [at the end of the 19th century] it found that about one in three young men drafted for the war was unfit for service, and that was largely due to nutrition.”
“As a result of that,” he continued, “the UK introduced a universal school-meal service to improve the nutrition of children before they became eligible for service in war.”