A Review of the Link between Obesity and Increased Fast Food Consumption in Saudi Arabia
Asma M. Alaklabi
Griffith University, Australia
Email: asma-188@hotmail.com
Abstract
A review of available literature was conducted to explore scholarly work that explores any potential link between obesity and fast food consumption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Obesity and obesity-linked illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension are on the increase in Saudi Arabia, with experts going as far as calling it a public health issue in the country. In order to explore the link between obesity and fast food consumption, with a focus on Saudi Arabia, a search was conducted using specific search terms input into the open source search engine Google Scholar. Over 200 results were reviewed in order to narrow down specific works, which was done using a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The narrowed down list of works was explored in detail to study what they found on the link between obesity and fast food consumption. A vast majority of the studies reviewed found a tangible link between obesity and overweight and increasing rates of fast food consumption amongst Saudi Arabians. In particular, several of the studies focused their attention on the youth in the country, be it primary school level, amongst adolescents or within young adults.