According to surgeons like Al Sanea, the bariatric boom can be traced to the buildup to the 1991 Gulf War. That was when hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops descended on the Gulf nation, bringing with them Taco Bell, Hardee’s, Baskin-Robbins, and Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, among others. “The [war] was the demarcation line,” says Dr. Abdulwahab Naser Al-Isa, at the Department of Community Medicine & Behavioral Sciences at Kuwait University. Andrew Smith, the author of the Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food, says, “The American military went in, and obviously they wanted fast food. Therefore, the number of fast-food establishments expanded exponentially.” And Kuwaitis fell in love.
An interesting take on the obesity issue in Kuwait although I’m not sure I believe the Americans are to blame. War or no war fast food chains were going to start popping up in Kuwait anyway. Check out the full article on Business Week [Here]
Thanks Kris
53 replies on “Obesity, the Other Gulf War Syndrome”
We had a lot of fast food joints before the war. Many of Kuwait’s kids were heavily addicted to Hungry Bunny, Wimpy, KFC etc. To blame this on the war is very silly and just trying to find an easy answer and someone to blame (other than ourselves).
I totally agree. There were miles-long lines to get in to Hardees and McDonalds when they opened and even before that Arby’s, etc.
Hungry Bunny is even a local chain that sold out to Burger King. They were around prior to 91.
Wrong. Hungry Bunny was here for 4 to 6 years after the war.
wrong hungry bunny was here since the early 80s
error from my end. misread your post.
Wow, so off the mark doctor! GCC nationals are very well-travelled and GCC nationals brought these franchises to the Gulf because THEY wanted them, not to sell burgers to soldiers. This has nothing to do with soldiers who stay most of the time locked on these bases in Kuwait.I refuse to see any doctor in Kuwait, these comments are really unprofessional. Doctors should not make statements that are not based on medical facts.
Uh “Dr.” is referring to a Professor here. Looking kinda silly with this comment.
why blame Americans? its not like level of self control is controlled by them..
Nobody is blaming Americans, anyone who remembers Kuwait pre and post invasion can tell that post-invasion we were a lot more Westernized. Personally I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I prefer it this way.
that was a generic statement..
It has more to do with them being a successful business model I’d imagine.
Obesity in the developed (higher GDP would be more accurate I’d imagine) world is quite widespread. It is truly an “epidemic” in the Gulf region though. More to do with eating and lack of physical activity + ignorance about nutrition than Americans bringing it with them. It is not like the Americans force children to eat Maccy Deez everyday
I just find it a bit ironic that while i read this article there are several advertisements for burger joints to my right. hahaha.
I blame the people who bring these fast food chains, I blame the likes of al-shaya’a and his chain of franchises.
Selfish Merchants who only care about themselves and their profits.
Kuwait has become like another state. FULL of fast food franchises, and what’s worse, they all taste bad. no fresh ingredients, all chemical preservatives.
ALL BAD FOR OUR HEALTH.
When will people understand burgers don’t make you fat. I eat a lot of burgers and I’ve got a body fat percentage of around 14%. Don’t eat a lot and you won’t put on weight. If you want to eat a lot then make sure you have a way to burn all the food by exercising.
Also it has nothing to do with franchises. You think the chocolate brownie pudding at OFK is healthy? It’s not. I wish I could have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner but I don’t. Moderate your food intake and you’ll be fine.
Totally agree with you Mark! Modreation is the key. You can always eat the foods you love as long as you have control and not eat half a birthday cake or a pint of ice cream every other day. I stay at around 84.5kilos and go to the 5 days a week and I’m 6ft tall. My friends are amazed how I eat when we get together for cookouts and stuff. We’ve been going to Azteca every pay week lately and they tease me as to how much I can eat. You know and I know about cheat day when you limit your intake during the week if you workout on a regular basis. Well that is my cheat day when we get together with friends everyweek. We have so much great food to eat that I take full advantage and don’t feel guilty about it.
https://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/how-to-burn-800-calories-in-just-30-minutes.jpg
Take away the chains brought by the merchants, you’re left with Kebabs dripping with fat, shawarma dripping with fat, juice places that are blending sugar-filled fruits, adding MORE sugar, then adding ICE CREAM to them and selling it as healthy “juice.”
Don’t blame the merchants, blame the market.
Us Kuwaitis have a choice… we can bring in all the junk food restaurants in the world without becoming obese! There’s nobody to blame but ourselves.
Let’s go a step further: Wendy’s, McDonalds, and other fast food chains in the US have healthy food alternatives and, by law, must disclose the nutritional values like calories and fat content of each item. There’s no legislation like that here, nor are there really any healthy alternatives.
And many moms used to be stay-at-home moms and cooked. Now, everybody is working because the economy has changed and families order food rather than cooking. Times have changed. You can’t blame that on one nationality.
there is more to fast food impact , the lack of education among parents and children and the lazyiness in making any good food for the children, once you start feeding the children fast food they will not eat anything proper and hence either they grow fat or loose their immunity…
Why doesn’t the UAE have such an obesity problem? Don’t they match all of the restaurants we have if not more? I like the fact how people love to put the companies as scapegoats for them going to the restaurant and ordering food and leading an unhealthy lifestyle.
The entire GCC has an obesity problem, UAE does too.
I would like Pinkberry to have a sugar-free yogurt, when is that coming out?
Pinkberry is literally sugar, there’s no fat in there so all the remaining calories are sugar and a tiny amount of protein. Have no idea if they could even make a sugar free version.
Yes, and that is why I don’t eat Pinkberry. But it is possible to make sugarfree yogurt. AND since you have alot of diabetics in the GCC, it would be advantageous to add to the menu. The fruit toppings will bring in natural sugar, but that is healthier.
It’s possible to make sugarfree yogurt, Pinkberry uses a different process so it’s not traditional yogurt. I would like that too to be honest but I don’t see it happening, hopefully one of the 100 clones thinks of this.
It’s nice to know that we’re now blamed for EVERYTHING that’s wrong in this world. Really Doctor? Even I know there were fast food chains in Kuwait before the Gulf war. I have a word I’d like to write…but he’s not even worth it!
Blame Canada.
@Suleiman
Agree – BLAME CANADA! Haha
Its not like the American troops had brought over the franchises and scattered them around Kuwait as they arrived! Whatever they had in their camp we never saw. I’ve never been inside an American military camp before!
We had Pizza hut, Hardeez, Hungry Bunny, Popeye’s, Wimpey for as far back as I can remember from my life.
Plus, its not like the Americans are the only ones with fattening food. Eaten any kanafa lately? A dinner of two meat shawermas with two falafels followed by cocktail juice and kanafa or baqlawa for dessert looks like a recipe for a heart attack!
Yeah, Arab food is just as deadly as American junk food!
The convenience of fast food is great. I love junking from time to time.
It’s less about the burger joints and more about not working on fitness. Generally speaking, we in the Gulf region tend to be lazy bums (I am one of them).
The Dr. is right in that there is a real demarcation in pre and post-war Kuwait in terms of westernization. The rest of the GCC considers us completely Americanized compared to them, always making jokes like “We prepared traditional Kuwaiti food” and giving us McDonalds.
Mentioned it above but I don’t think this is a bad thing at all, it’s good to have a more progressive attitude towards a lot of things. For all the stuff the UAE does to progress as a nation the attitude of Emiratis is still very, very conservative. Actual Emiratis are far more conservative than Kuwaitis, something a lot of expats have no idea about. There’s a reason you almost never interact with Emiratis in Dubai.
Ha, the truth comes out of your mouth. Yes the UAE is far more conservative than Kuwait although they have controlled access to alcohol. Which only points out that just because a country is dry does not make it conservative. The US has begun campaigns to add healthy options to this fast food places. Mark is correct, it is moderation and your choice what you eat no one is forcing you to supersize. We do see that Emiritis are very conservative in the UAE and we also see that Kuwaitis are not.
@aaa well look how you get off the plane in Dubai. Orange pumas, cargo shorts and polo shirts. Only the older folks wear distashis and I think the Emiritis look smashing in their crisp white collarless distashis with the front tassle. They have a point.
DAMN AMERICANS!
Damn Yankees!
Kentucky is southern!
No Damn Chinese! Hit this gals blog site expatandthecity and read about the ‘full service’ grocery store in Fahaheel.
Haha please.Every country has a certain percentage of fat pie ass inhabitants. When I shot videos with dancers or Parkour athletes we usually go pig out be it at a healthy place or a fatty place. Either way I have lost a lot of weight since I started filming these guys because I eat in moderation and eat earlier. Almost all my fat friends of every country tend to eat a lot, eat late and do not moderate serving sizes at all. It is easy to cast blame on other so you don’t have to look at yourself. And someone above mentioned the thing about the UAE not having as many fat people. Like it or not I have been there so many times this year it is insane and they are right. The people aren’t as fat, they drive much better and are far more courteous. But that is tangential to my point. The average American kid eats 40 lbs of French fries a year and that is why there is such a health kick in that states because all these little fat f**ks running around schools. Hell they even have fast food places in some schools. That is no ones fault but the parents, teachers and students who can’t keep their cake hole shut and empty no one else’s!
A little sensitve aren’t we!
Haha naaa it is only an article but I tend to write pretty passionately no matter what the topic.
The doctor says people can go back to eating “Whoppers and bottomless buckets of extra-crispy chicken” which is not true. people who get their stomach stapled can eat only very little amount of food hence they need to eat more frequently and it has to be a carefully balanced diet so the body gets all the required nutrients.
Kababji, Kanafgi, Farah, Zatar w Zait, Shati Alwatiya, Fereej Sowaileh all serve food high in fat, sugar and carbohydrates and none of them is American. The truth of the matter is people in Kuwait eat a lot and live a sedentary lifestyle.
AMERICA STARTED THE FAST FOOD! NOW EVERY COUNTRY HAS FAST FOOD AND FAT PEOPLE! BECAUSE OF THE AMERICANS! AMERICANA FOOD COMPANY!
Im usually on the side that frowns upon a lot of things America does be it my Government, the people or the culture and that is coming from an American. But in this case I have to say that you are full of shit. Yeah America popularized the drive through and a lot of othr stuff that most countries around the world ate using. But to say it is our fault that so many people are fat asses is a just garbage. I lived in Japan for years and they have just as many drive throughs a KuwAit if not more not to mention something like one censing machine for every two people but the obesity rate their was crazy low. I rarely saw any fat people there. It is going to be relative to the culture, place and individual. Ever time I look there is a new fast food place opening up here, a new food review for said place and 50 instagram photos of said pie assery posted. Kuwait is obsessed with food which is why so many people here are grounded blimps floating from one eatery to the next. I think Kuwait has unoficially set the world record for amount of Kankles per capita!
Vending machine…freaking iphone autocorrect
Where the heck is the Like button?
I don’t think Japanese moms say YOU’RE NOT EATING ENOUGH HERE EAT MORE DO YOU NOT LIKE MY FOOD
Kuwait ranks 2nd in obesity
Study also incorporates BMI
KUWAIT CITY, June 21: Kuwait has ranked second in obesity, according to a recent study which comes from an extensive country by country report on obesity from the Imperial College London, Harvard University, and the World Health Organization.
Rank Country
1 United States
2 Kuwait
3 Croatia
4 Qatar
5 Egypt
The study also incorporated body-mass index (BMI) which is a measure of body fat based on height and weight, an in-depth research can be found online in the journal of BMC Public Health as reported by NYDailyNews.com
Quote from the illustrious aaa
“Nobody is blaming Americans, anyone who remembers Kuwait pre and post invasion can tell that post-invasion we were a lot more Westernized. Personally I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I prefer it this way.”
That was one of the end goals of the war-make it more westernized internally and externally…unfortunately my country is king of deception.
You cannot blame anyone for bad food habits you have, especially at the era where access to information about nutrition values, healthy eating habits etc is very easy. The only blame can be put on parents who fail to teach their children about healthy food options. The choice of what you eat is yours, especially in such a rich country as Kuwait where you have all variety of food and money to buy it.