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

Telcoguy Thursday, 7 March 2013 6:36 PM - 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

Hisham Friday, 1 March 2013 9:54 PM - 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).

Thomas Friday, 1 March 2013 8:54 PM - 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.

Red Snappa Friday, 1 March 2013 7:21 PM - 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!

Telcoguy Thursday, 7 March 2013 6:37 PM - 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

Telcoguy Tuesday, 5 March 2013 1:32 PM - 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

Telcoguy Monday, 4 March 2013 12:47 PM - UAE

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

realiste Monday, 4 March 2013 11:17 AM - 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.

Qatari Saturday, 2 March 2013 4:10 PM - 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.

Telcoguy Saturday, 2 March 2013 1:48 PM - UAE

@RS I think your numbers may be off a little bit. The BigMac index shows KSA (largest population by far, so we can use as proxy for GCC) to be almost 40% cheaper than USA, your dollars are certainly buying more calories here, I think on average McDonalds is adding almost 700 grams per year to the average GCC resident... of course the problem is that consumption is not equally distributed :)

Another angle is that GCC inhabitants spend 5-6 times more in McDonalds than the global average. As much in terms of revenue as good old USA, but given that it is cheaper here (according to the economist at least) that means that the GCC tops the world in terms of caloric intake from McDonalds. Another record to trump!
@Thomas, yes that is it. That should answer Dhoka's question. It is cheap, it is convenient, it is tailored to address some (originally relevant) craves from our hungry savannah born great-grandfathers
@irfan, nobody wonders. Maybe they will hire expats to exercise here ...

Irfan Khan Friday, 1 March 2013 12:26 PM - United Arab Emirates

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

Dokha Friday, 1 March 2013 12:25 PM - UAE

Why do we eat fast food if we know that it's bad for us?

big fat man Friday, 1 March 2013 10:52 AM - Fatiland

and this is something to be proud about it???

jon Friday, 1 March 2013 1:36 AM - somewhereland

gota love big macs, eh. before you know it the gcc will have a bigger obesity crises then the states

Paul Thursday, 28 February 2013 1:59 PM - UAE

USD 2m per day.... and spending even more at the hospitals getting treated for diabetes, blood pressure, heart problems and all the other diseases caused by over-eating of this high fat, low nutrition food.

Baba Thursday, 28 February 2013 1:00 PM - UAE

Dubai Marina is a good example. Burger and Pizza places everywhere but not a single decent restaurant.