Nearly two thirds of Saudis are suffering from obesity because of bad eating habits and lack of exercise, a medical conference in the Gulf Kingdom has been told.
Nearly 37 per cent of Saudi women are also facing health problems related to overweight, said a study at the conference in the eastern Saudi town of Al Khobar.
It showed that around SR500 million per year (Dh495 million) was spent by people suffering from obesity in the Kingdom on treatment, especially diabetes which is prevalent among a large section of Saudis, including women.
“The disease had spread at an alarming rate of 30 percent in the past 10 years,” the study said at the conference on obesity in the largest Arab economy.
In a recent study, Dr Qahtani estimated that obesity kills an average 20,000 people every year in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter.
source: http://www.emirates247.com/
