The concept of food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) has been promoted by several international organizations. However, there are no FBDG for the countries in the Arab region. As the Arab Gulf countries share similar a socioeconomic and nutrition situation, an attempt was made to develop FBDG for these countries. This paper summarizes the steps taken to develope such guidelines by the Arab Center for Nutrition. The FBDG were developed through 6 steps: (1) determination of the purpose and goals for establishing FBDG, (2) characteristics of FBDG, (3) determination of the food consumption patterns, (4) review the current nutrition situation, (5) determination of the lifestyle patterns that are associated with diet-related diseases and (6) formulating the FBDG. The FBDG consist of 14 simple and practical pieces of advice taking into consideration the sociocultural status and nutritional problems in the Arab Gulf countries. The FBDG can be a useful tool in educating the public in healthy eating and prevention of diet-related chronic diseases.

The present study aimed to estimate the individual and total phenols and antioxidant activity of the aqueous and alcoholic extracts of three premium quality date varieties (Khalas, Sukkari and Ajwa) from Saudi Arabia. In general, water extract has shown significantly higher contents of total phenols than alcoholic, especially in Ajwa (455.88 and 245.66 mg/100g respectively). However, phenolic profile indicated that Sukkari contained the highest rutin concentration (8.10 mg/kg), whereas, catechin was approximately the same in Sukkari and Ajwa (7.50 and 7.30 mg/kg respectively). Khalas was the highest variety content of caffeic acid (7.40 mg/kg). A significant difference has indicated among extracts and varieties in suppressing lipid peroxidation. Sukkari and Ajwa have reduced the oxidation with 50% at lower concentration in water extract than alcoholic (0.63, 0.70 and 1.60, 1.43 mg/ml respectively). Furthermore, high positive linear correlation was found between total phenols in water (r = 0.96) and alcohol (r = 0.85) extracts and inhibition of lipid oxidation activity. The compounds responsible for the activity were catechin (r = 0.96), and rutin (r = 0.74) in water extract, whereas this correlation decreased in alcoholic extract (r = 0.66) for catechin and very weak (r = 0.38) for rutin. No correlation was found between caffeic acid and lipid peroxidation in both extracts. Similar significant results were obtained with DPPH test, except with Sukari, which has shown no difference between aqueous and alcoholic extracts (4.30, 4.10 mg/ml respectively).

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Influence of gamma irradiation (1.5-10 kGy) and post-irradiation storage up to 20 days at 2 ‫ע‬ 2ЊC on some chemical criteria of tilapia and Spanish mackerel were studied. Total volatile basic nitrogen formation was lower in irradiated fish than in the unirradiated. Irradiation also caused a larger increase in thiobarbituric acid values which continued gradually during storage. Some fatty acids decreased by irradiation treatments at all doses. Thiamin loss was more severe at higher doses (≥4.5 kGy), whereas riboflavin was not affected. Alpha and gamma tocopherols of tilapia and alpha, beta, gamma, and delta tocopherols, in Spanish mackerel, decreased with increased dose and continued to decrease during 20-day post-irradiation storage.