GCC consumers spending $2m a day at McDonald’s

Posted by: Telcoguy Thursday, 7 March 2013 6:36 PM[UAE] - UAE

@Qatari, ironically I was going to the gym but I decided to offer you a goodwill gift
You may find this interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15951877
I will quote from the summary:
"This study is a community-based national epidemiological health survey, conducted by examining Saudi subjects"
And...
"Obesity and overweight are increasing in KSA with an overall obesity prevalence of 35.5%. Reduction in overweight and obesity are of considerable importance to public health."

I will draw your attention to the "Saudi subjects" part

Have fun

Posted by: Hisham Friday, 1 March 2013 9:54 PM[UAE] - UAE

No one will ever die from eating a Big Mac every once in a while (unless they choke on it), honestly said, no other burger tastes better. But people who take their kids to fastfood places daily or even weekly are the same kinds of people who shouldn't have any kids. Learn to cook and feed your kids (and yourself for that matter) some real food with real nutrients (instead of believing those preposterous "information", or better said marketing, labels on fastfood).

Posted by: Thomas Friday, 1 March 2013 8:54 PM[UAE] - USA

McDonalds is fast and convenient, something food consumers love; plus, McDonalds engineers their food to be quite tasty and something consumers crave, so this growth is not unexpected. As economies grow, especially in the Middle East, McDonalds is perfectly positioned to grow along with them.

Posted by: Red Snappa Friday, 1 March 2013 7:21 PM[UAE] - Ireland

Let's say an average spend of $6 per person, that's 333,000 diners per day @ 1,000 calories each = 333 million calories.

3,500 calories = 1 pound (0.45 kilos) gain in weight

Potential daily mass weight gain = 95,143 pounds (42,814 kilos)

Excuse me while I avoid a coronary!

Posted by: Telcoguy Thursday, 7 March 2013 6:37 PM[UAE] - UAE

@Qatari, given that the highest percentage of inhabitants in the UAE is Indians, and given that most of them are laborers I am fairly comfortable with the assumption that they contribute very little to the epidemic of obesity. Even for non laborers you have to explain the difference with the same population at home

Did I mention that obesity rates in KSA (where in fact Saudis are a substantial majority) are not so low either

I am also surprised to know that all these talk about the rise in diabetes is just "racists pre-judgmental claims" but I am sure the health authorities here will be happy to hear that
Same about child obesity (you could check those racist organizations like WHO and the Arab Health Forum)

It seems hiding the head under the sand is a favorite past time in the region, I would have thought that the increasing waist lines made that harder. The only ignorance here is trying to hide behind averages, but that is your privilege, it will not be up to me to clean this mess

Posted by: Telcoguy Tuesday, 5 March 2013 1:32 PM[UAE] - UAE

@realiste you can find research specific to nationals. It takes some 2 minutes. Unfortunately AB does not seem to like references to NIH, and in terms of racism in Qatar it also does not like links to its own articles. How amusing

Posted by: Telcoguy Monday, 4 March 2013 12:47 PM[UAE] - UAE

@Qatari, ask AB to publish any of my (failed) attempts to reply you.

Posted by: realiste Monday, 4 March 2013 11:17 AM[UAE] - uae

@qatari
it also shows just how intolerant you are if you cannot understand ironic humour.
please open your mind and dont close it to the beauty of the language in full flow.

Posted by: Qatari Saturday, 2 March 2013 4:10 PM[UAE] - Qatar

@Telcoguy,
About your last point, "Maybe they will hire expats to exercise here"
Who do you mean by they? I assume you mean McDonalds consumers. The fact that the population of expats in GCC is higher than the nationals tells us that McDonalds consumers in GCC are mostly expats. Don't bring your racists pre-judgmental claims here, this shows how ignorant you "Expat Commentators" have become when reading any random article related to the GCC.

Posted by: Irfan Khan Friday, 1 March 2013 12:26 PM[UAE] - United Arab Emirates

And they wonder why Diabetes and Obesity is on the rise in the GCC....!