Objectives: To describe nutrient intakes and prevalence of overweight and obesity in a nationally representative sample of Kuwaitis and to compare intakes with reference values. Design: Cross-sectional, multistage stratified, cluster sample. Settings: National nutrition survey covering all geographical areas of the country. Subjects: Kuwaitis (n 1704) between 3 and 86 years of age. Results: Obesity was more prevalent among women than men (50 % and 70 % for females aged 19-50 years and $51 years, respectively, v. 29 % and 42 % for their male counterparts). Boys were more obese than girls, with the highest obesity rate among those aged 9-13 years (37 % and 24 % of males and females, respectively). Energy intake was higher than the estimated energy requirements for almost half of Kuwaiti children and one-third of adults. The Estimated Average Requirement was exceeded by 78-100 % of the recommendation for protein and carbohydrates. More than two-thirds of males aged $4 years exceeded the Tolerable Upper Intake Level for Na. Conversely, less than 20 % of Kuwaitis, regardless of age, consumed 100 % or more of the Estimated Average Requirement for vitamin D, vitamin E, Ca, n-3 and n-6 fatty acids. Less than 20 % of children met the recommended level for fibre. Conclusions: Nutrition transition among Kuwaitis was demonstrated by the increased prevalence of obesity and overweight, increased intakes of energy and macronutrients and decreased intakes of fibre and micronutrients. Interventions to increase awareness about healthy foods combined with modifications in subsidy policies are clearly warranted to increase consumption of low-energy, nutrient-dense foods.
Keywords
Nutrient intake Nutrition transition Obesity Kuwait EpidemiologyThe relationship between food intake and noncommunicable diseases (NCD), where excessive and unbalanced intakes of energy, SFA, trans-fatty acids, salt and sugar are associated with nutrition-related NCD, is well established (1) . The Gulf countries have the highest reported prevalence of NCD in the world (2) . Kuwait is a Gulf country with a total land area of 17 818 km 2 and a population of 3?3 million, of whom about 31 % are Kuwaiti citizens. About 80 % of adult Kuwaiti citizens (2,3) are reported to be either overweight or obese and many of them suffer from one or more nutrition-related NCD such as diabetes (15 %) (3,4) , metabolic syndrome (24 %) (3) , CHD, hypertension (26 %) (5) and/or dyslipidaemia (33 %) (5)(6)(7) . Kuwait has the highest childhood overweight problem among the Gulf countries and obesity is reportedly on the rise (2) . El-Bayoumy et al. (8) reported that 30?7 % and 14?6 % of children between the ages of 10 and 14 years were overweight and obese, respectively; while 43?3 % and 21?3 % of children between 14 and 19 years of age were overweight and obese, respectively (7) .Before the discovery of oil, Kuwait's food supply was limited. Available foods consisted mainly of rice, dates, seafood, camel milk, sheep and goat meat and their by-products (9) . Meat was an i...
