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I think it's a good idea personally.

http://www.7days.ae/storydetails.php?id ... page=local news&title=In need of fast warning

A top UAE health official has called for warnings to be displayed on fast food to alert podgy diners about piling on pounds.
Dr Salah El Badawi, director of the national project for diabetes at the Ministry of Health, described obesity in the UAE as an “epidemic”, caused by the lifestyle choices made by residents.

Speaking at a panel discussion yesterday, organised by slimming company VLCC, Dr Salah said the labelling of food should include more than just its content to highlight the dangers of eating an excessive amount of fast food.

“We need to give guidance to those who need it, and also to those who may be unaware of the problem of obesity and being overweight. We need to give people as much knowledge as possible,” he said. He added that it was important for the
government and municipalities to consider labelling food in the same way cigarette packets are.

El Badawi also stressed the importance of education, but said there needed to be major changes made to the legislation.

“We need to adopt labelling of food by law, for example in fast food restaurants. People have a right to know what they’re eating. We can’t prevent them from eating unhealthy food, but we can give them a choice,” he said.

According to statistics provided by Dr Salah, the issue of obesity and being overweight starts early with the entire UAE population.

“Among 12 to 17 year olds, 13.7 per cent are obese, and 20 per cent are overweight,” he said. Among the adult population the figures are more frightening, with more than 70 per cent being diagnosed as either obese or overweight.

A number of fast food outlets in the UAE do already publicise the nutritional value of the food they sell.

The calorie content, along with the amount of carbohydrates and protein of McDonald’s burgers can be found on its UAE web site, and Subway is also clear about the nutritional value of its sandwiches and salads.

Whether clearly labelling menus and food packages in fast food chains and restaurants will make a difference is unclear.
Jeff Leech, director of Paleobiotics Lab and co-founder of US-based N-K-D Pizza - a “healthy pizza”, which will open in Dubai in January, has researched the link between evolution, nutrition and health. He said labelling may be a step in the right direction, but it would not solve the problem.

“Labelling may get people thinking, and may reduce the consumption of the outrageous items, but we won’t see huge differences,” he said.

Leech said governments need to look at the bigger picture and introduce national programmes explaining how to cook food.
“People spend more time researching a plasma TV than the food they eat,” he added.

What is nutrition education like in the UAE? In Ontario, by high school, we all knew how to read labels and knew about recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals. We learned about healthy fats and bad fats as well as cholesterol problems and diabetes. Technically we had the knowledge, but making good lifestyle choices was strongly influence by our families, what we were fed at home, and what was available at school. Still, we did know that if eating McDonalds, chocolate bars, and pop we would be consuming too much fat, salt and sugar and it would impact our health. We just liked to suspend reality because those things taste so good and they are everywhere.

Nutrition education has been around in the US for quite sometime, yet when it comes to stats, it as the highest rate of obesity, the majority being adults.

I remember the case where a mother wanted to sue McDonald's (or another fast food chain) because her young daughter was obese. The fact that the kid ate about 10 meals a week at the fast food chain might have had something to do with it. And momma was pretty hefty herself. If she was a concerned parent, she would have done what she was suppose to do - feed her daughter proper meals at home and make fast food a treat, not a daily "diet". You didn't have to be Einstein to figure that one out.

By law, fast food chains in the US must post the nutrition information on each meal, they can do it here as well.

Bora Bora wrote:Nutrition education has been around in the US for quite sometime, yet when it comes to stats, it as the highest rate of obesity, the majority being adults.

I remember the case where a mother wanted to sue McDonald's (or another fast food chain) because her young daughter was obese. The fact that the kid ate about 10 meals a week at the fast food chain might have had something to do with it. And momma was pretty hefty herself. If she was a concerned parent, she would have done what she was suppose to do - feed her daughter proper meals at home and make fast food a treat, not a daily "diet". You didn't have to be Einstein to figure that one out.

By law, fast food chains in the US must post the nutrition information on each meal, they can do it here as well.

I think it was in the "Food Inc." movie/documentary where it was stated that it is far cheaper to feed a family with fast food than with fresh vegetables due to all the subsidies that the goverment provides for junk/process food (mostly corn/soy).

For the cost of a fast food meal you can make a healthy meal. It just takes effort and thought. It's not as if fast food has all the nutrients one should consume. Fast food is basically about oil (fat) and starch (potatoes and bread) and sugar (soda). It's about pigging out on the wrong food. There is just no excuse for it.

If you drink water instead of soda, stop frying food which would eliminate oil, eat rice or pasta, brown or whole meal bread is basically inexpensive, you can make a healthy, decent meal for the same cost. You can make a good healthy soup for the same cost of a fast food meal. There just isn't any excuse.

I am shocked at the number of times I see 'hefty' children here and they're all eating junk! But it seems to be the cheap, quick option where people either aren't educated about nutrition or can't be bothered to make healthy choices and cook for themselves and their families.

The UAE has the second highest diabetes rate in the world! Something needs to be done.

No junk food, leads to no local hospital working and no cheap alternative food. = ppl will get mad and ask Qs.
:p

Nadder wrote:No junk food, leads to no local hospital working and no cheap alternative food. = ppl will get mad and ask Qs.
:p

heh, I fully support your conspiracy theory , no doubt if everybody was fine and dandy , the medical industry would collapse

zubber wrote:

Nadder wrote:No junk food, leads to no local hospital working and no cheap alternative food. = ppl will get mad and ask Qs.
:p

heh, I fully support your conspiracy theory , no doubt if everybody was fine and dandy , the medical industry would collapse

so we reach a conclusion that ( if ppl are not busy checking their health and Diet, then they will be busy checking something else ) ) = again they will start asking Qs..

Nadder wrote:No junk food, leads to no local hospital working and no cheap alternative food. = ppl will get mad and ask Qs.
:p

That's kind of a crazy thing to say. I'd go the other way and say people eating so much rubbish are putting a huge strain on medical services. They should classify junk food like smoking, drinking or drug taking, you know it's bad for you, so you run the health risks involved in mass consumption, therefore you should be penalized when you end up with horrific health problems because of it.

u didn't understand me.... i am not with smoking and Junk food..
Despite the obvious negative affects.. i am just saying it is all manipulated

In UK they would take of a drug of all the pharmacies in 24 hour, if they found that it has some negative side effects...
what about smoke!!! y is it still in the market??
just like Junkfood... Big medical companies have benefits.. :p

Bora Bora wrote:For the cost of a fast food meal you can make a healthy meal. It just takes effort and thought. It's not as if fast food has all the nutrients one should consume. Fast food is basically about oil (fat) and starch (potatoes and bread) and sugar (soda). It's about pigging out on the wrong food. There is just no excuse for it.

If you drink water instead of soda, stop frying food which would eliminate oil, eat rice or pasta, brown or whole meal bread is basically inexpensive, you can make a healthy, decent meal for the same cost. You can make a good healthy soup for the same cost of a fast food meal. There just isn't any excuse.

Yep but sugar and fat tastes much better to kids (and probably all of us) than what the body actually needs for healthy living and its addictive. I think regardless what warnings you put on the junk food it doesn't change a thing - the change needs to take place at the parent level. I mean its called "junk food" - everybody knows that - surely they don't think its full of vitamins. Its just easy, cheap and tastes good which far outweighs the health benefits if you ask most kids. Parents know better (most of them anyway) but don't have the will to say "no you can't have it" as it probably makes their life simpler. Voila fat kids.