Dietitians and nutritionists trying to promote the importance of a balanced diet say that obesity is best fought through preventive means with a healthy diet and regular exercise. Gathering at a forum in Jeddah recently, nutrition specialists said that the “quickest way to address obesity is to prevent it”. “Most children eat high-calorie foods of low nutritional value like soft drinks, French fries and sweets between meals,” said Khaled Al-Madani, a consultant therapeutic dietician and forum organizer. “This lowers their appetite for the main meals that usually contain foods of high nutritional value and which are necessary for proper growth.” According to Al-Madani, obesity prevention requires meal planning and healthy eating habits. “We need nutritional education to promote good eating behavior,” he said. “We also need to look at physical activity, shopping habits, and tension and stress which can lead to comfort eating.” Taha Qummusani of King Fahd Medical Research Center, said obesity was on the rise and that there were no preventive or therapeutic programs to tackle it. “Diet is a cornerstone of treatment for obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol as well as hypertension and other ailments connected with metabolism malfunctions,” Qummusani said. “Doctors and dietitians need to work together in these areas. In most cases, the doctor merely advises and sets out calorie intake for the sufferer from obesity, while the dietitian bases a diet on laboratory analysis.” Hanan Janabi of the Home Economics College and former head of the Nutrition Department at King Abdul Aziz University said that dietitians are an essential part of the treatment process for afflictions such as diabetes, renal failure and metabolism maladjustments as they translate prescribed diets into food plans. “We need improvements in this area through more training for dietitians in therapeutic nutrition,” Janabi said. “There should also be stricter criteria for accepting persons wishing to specialize in dietary treatment.” The forum also noted, however, that obesity can be treated with safe medication that prevents the absorption of excessive quantities of fats. “There are safe medicines that can be used to help reduce weight,” Qummusani said. “This should be done, however, under a doctor's supervision and in full knowledge of the effects of the medication on the body and general health.”
