130 | Noncommunicable Diseases in Saudi Arabia
school cafeterias. The nutrition standards in Saudi schools, however, are not enforced consistently. According to a survey by Aldubayan and Murimi (2019), most boys’ public high schools in Riyadh allow the sale of highly processed energy-dense snacks, including muffins, sweets, biscuits, cookies, and chips. Saudi Arabia has also implemented a ban on energy drinks and soft drinks in hospitals and public health facilities and proposed restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks to children via media channels. All of these interventions have been accompanied by public awareness campaigns to encourage healthier eating. Saudi Arabia has also implemented some mandatory and voluntary product reformulation interventions (table 7.3). These interventions encourage or require the reformulation of products that makes them healthier or discourage reformulation of products that makes them less healthy. The mandatory interventions include (1) mandating limits on the use of sodium and salt in baked bread (a popular food in Saudi Arabia) to 1/100th gram of sodium per gram of final product, (2) mandating an upper limit for trans fats of 2 percent in butter, margarine, and oils and 5 percent in other food products, (3) banning the use of polyhydrogenated oils, and (4) prohibiting food establishments from serving fresh juices that have been supplemented with sugar or artificial sweeteners. The voluntary interventions include (1) encouraging manufacturers to replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat, (2) encouraging manufacturers to reduce portion sizes for their packaged food products, (3) encouraging manufacturers to replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat, and (4) encouraging manufacturers to limit the amount of salt in products other than baked bread. Saudi Arabia does not currently implement any workplace interventions. Some countries, such as Singapore, subsidize workplace interventions designed to reduce obesity and NCDs. If such programs are determined to be cost-effective, Saudi Arabia could consider subsidizing them or requiring employers to adopt them.
Physical activity interventions Globally, there is strong evidence that insufficient physical activity increases the risk of many NCDs, including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancers. Physical inactivity also shortens life expectancy. Compared with the populations of neighboring countries, relatively few Saudi Arabians are
TABLE 7.3 Product
reformulation interventions implemented to reduce NCDs in Saudi Arabia
INTERVENTION
DETAIL
Mandatory
• Upper limits on sodium and salt in baked bread • Upper limit for trans fats of 2% in butter, margarine, and oils and 5% in other food products • Ban on polyhydrogenated oils • Ban on serving fresh fruit juices that have been supplemented with sugar or artificial sweeteners
Voluntary
• Encourage manufacturers to replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat in food manufacturing • Encourage manufacturers to reduce the portion size of their packaged food products • Encourage manufacturers to limit the amount of salt in products other than baked bread
Source: Original compilation for this publication. Note: NCDs = noncommunicable diseases.
