The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among the top 17 countries in the world when it comes to obesity prevalence. The nation also ranks first in the world for deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with dietary habits contributing to 73% of these deaths.
The growing popularity of fast food chains, such as McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts, has fueled the problem in Saudi Arabia. But, there are a growing number of restaurants and cafes offering healthier food options. For example, at LeanMeals in the capital, a meal of Grilled Chicken and Rice with mixed boiled vegetables has 485 calories – less than two pieces of a Chocolate Frosted Donut from Dunkin’s.
While many participants in the current study understood and acknowledged that the Healthy Food Palm and the Saudi Healthy Plate guidelines were helpful, only about 4% self-reported that they are following the recommended five portions of fruits and vegetables per day. This is consistent with the low overall adherence to FBDGs observed in previous studies.
A key finding of this investigation was that, on average, the prices of healthier foods were not significantly more expensive than less healthy options. However, this was only true for dairy products and vegetable products. In the former, the price increase was driven by cheese and cream products, which are high in fat content. In the latter, the difference was largely attributed to the higher cost of canned vegetables that are high in salt content. أكل صحي الرياض