Diabetes Mellitus: Why do Arab people have so much sugar in their diets

Why do Arab people have so much sugar in their diets?
Diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease are reaching epidemic levels in Arab countries and are more prevalent in in Arab countries than in Western diets. The reason I believe that these disorders are so prevalent in the Arab countries I beleive is because Arabs consume alot of sugar in their diet. Nearly every Arab product i buy is consistently high in sugar to the point that everything just tastes like sugar. for example nearly every arab family i know consumes tea with almost saturated amounts of sugar. Even worse tea is consumed in most cases every hour of the day in most Arab countries. Most of my friends that i associate with some who are Arabs generally agree with me so why is it that people dont act on it. Allah mentions in the quran to look after ourselves and our health. So why dont people act on this. Trust me the epidemics are scary. here is a map on diabetes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Diabetes_mellitus_world_map_-_DALY_-_WHO2002.svg
Ramadan - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
cause we're fat... JKS, i don't think people put sugar in tea, but coffee. I drink tea not coffee but, i don't know. Some of my relatives are fat and are close to having diabetes.
2 :
Have you ever been to Scotland? Sugar? Why its part of our daily 5 don't you know...
3 :
It's not sugar, although Arabs eat sugar, it's the high level of carbohydrates in the food. We have to eat rice or potatoes or pasta every day at lunch and bread every day at breakfast and dinner. Some people actually eat bread, rice and potatoes in one meal!! Even our soup is rich in carbohydrates that turn into sugar in the blood. We also consume a lot of fat, that may not cause diabetes but it does cause high cholesterol and heart diseases. I understand your point, but for some reason they just do not want to stop (the food tastes too good). My father was lately diagnosed with diabetes and my mom just would change the diet, I fight with her about it every day and her reply is "but boiled food does not taste good - do you want me to feed him hospital food". (OK, I'm not stopping until she is convinced but this is just an example of how people think - mind you, my mom is educated, I'm not talking about uneducated people which would probably react in an even worse way). The tea may be very sweet but not the coffee; and trust me, it's not about the sweets.
4 :
Haluww... stereotypical problem.
5 :
i dont know, i thought it was bad how my dad likes 5 teaspoons of sugar in his tea, but then my teacher told me her husband takes 7, and they are russian. it depends on the person i think, not the culture. our coffee usually has no sugar in it. but it is okay in my family, no one of us ever has had diabetes.. we have good genes alhamduillah :))
6 :
One point is what is done with food after eating: exercise. I've noticed that Arabs in the Middle East do have a really high incidence of obesity. Exercise is not practiced like it is in America although America is fast catching up on the obesity scale. Americans are very socially anti-fat too. Not really very accepting of fat people, that's a non-issue for most Arabs Sports are given much more of a priority in the west that helps some people achieve better health.

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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Why do Arab people have so much sugar in their diets