Dietary and Activity Habits in Adolescents Living in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Methods:A cross-sectional study of 1,022 students (539 boys; 483 girls) aged 12-16 years, from 17 government schools in Dubai, UAE. Dietary practices and physical activity was collected using a short self-completed questionnaire.Results: Non-Emirati pupils, especially the girls appear to eat more healthily than their Emirati counterparts. Overall, 16% of students reported never eating breakfast, 31% reported drinking sugar sweetened beverages everyday 18% said they never drank milk and 15% never ate fruits. 67% reported buying food from school every day; Emiratis spending more than non-Emiratis. 37% of pupils reported exercising or playing sport daily, whereas 60% reported they daily watch more than 2 hours of TV. Conclusion:Despite the recent changes in school policies, pupils are still failing to eat a healthy diet and engage in physical activity. There needs to be further interventions promoting changes in lifestyle amongst adolescents, and enhancing provision of healthy food in schools to be more appealing to students.

Report Card Grades on the Physical Activity of Children and Youth Comparing 30 Very High Human Development Index Countries

“…Similar findings were observed among children and/or adolescents from other very high HDI countries or regions such as Australia, 6 Chile, 27 Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), 28 Hong Kong, 29 Japan, 30 South Korea, 31 Qatar, 32 and the United Arab Emirates. [32][33][34] Very high HDI countries share similar characteristics in terms of education, life expectancy, and income; however, differences also exist geographically, politically, culturally, religiously, and environmentally that may influence physical activity behavior differently across the very high HDI countries. Cooper et al 35 found that there was substantial between-country variation in objectively measured MVPA in the International Children's Accelerometry Database, even between apparently similar countries, and concluded that further research is needed to explore environmental and sociocultural explanations for these differences.…”

Urinary minerals excretion among primary schoolchildren in Dubai—United Arab Emirates

“…In fact, the dietary patterns are far from being uniform and can change with multiple factors such as demographic, economic, and parents’ education [ 37 , 38 ]. Dietary pattern of Emirati adolescents and children was reported to shift towards a higher consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (sodas and fruit drinks) and less consumption of milk [ 39 , 40 ]; and this is paralleled by low vitamin D status [ 41 – 43 ]. The aforementioned factors may partially explain the relatively low Ca excretion rates among some children.…”

Modelling the inhibitors of cold supply chain using fuzzy interpretive structural modeling and fuzzy MICMAC analysis

“…Real-time condition (temperature/humidity) monitoring technology [ 13 ], the declining cost of internet of things (IoT) technology [ 4 ], and analysis enabled sensors like thermal imaging and refrigeration leak detection already exist across the value chains, particularly in the food and the pharmaceutical industries. Typical constraints that were faced earlier relating to IoT, like the packet size, speed of network packets, and packet loss [ 14 ] have also been addressed to a great extent thus far; however, the network disruption, due to both controllable and uncontrollable factors, still exists.…”

“…has posed potential risks for severe cardio-metabolic problems. Haroun et al, [ 14 ] found that non-Emirati students eat healthier food than their Emirati counterparts do; however, Emiratis spend more than non-Emiratis.…”