The puzzle of self-reported weight gain in a month of fasting (Ramadan) among a cohort of Saudi families in Jeddah, Western Saudi Arabia.

Balkees Abed Bakhotmah

doi:10.1186/1475-2891-10-84

Abstract

BackgroundDuring Ramadan fast, approximately one billion Muslims abstain from food and fluid between the hours of sunrise to sunset, and usually eat a large meal after sunset and another meal before sunrise. Many studies reported good health-related outcomes of fasting including weight loss. The objective of this study is to identify the local pattern of expenditure on food consumption, dietary habits during Ramadan and correlate that to self-reported weight gain after Ramadan in a group of families in Jeddah, Western Saudi Arabia.MethodsA Cross-section study using a pre-designed questionnaire to identify the local pattern of expenditure on food consumption, dietary habits during Ramadan and correlate that to self-reported weight gain after Ramadan in a representative cohort of Saudis living in Jeddah. It was piloted on 173 nutrition students and administered by them to their families.ResultsA total of 173 Saudi families were interviewed. One out of 5 indicated that their expenditure increases during Ramadan. Approximately two thirds of the respondents (59.5%) reported weight gain after Ramadan. When asked about their perspective explanations for that: 40% attributed that to types of foods being rich in fat and carbohydrates particularly date in (Sunset meal) 97.7% and rice in (Dawn meal) 80.9%. One third (31.2%) indicated that it was due to relative lack of physical exercise in Ramadan and 14.5% referred that to increase in food consumption. Two thirds (65.2%) of those with increased expenditure reported weight gain.ConclusionSurprisingly weight gain and not weight loss was reported after Ramadan by Saudis which indicates timely needed life-style and dietary modification programs for a population which reports one of the highest prevalence rates of diabetes.

Highlights

During The holy month of fasting (Ramadan) fast, approximately one billion Muslims abstain from food and fluid between the hours of sunrise to sunset, and usually eat a large meal after sunset and another meal before sunrise
Understanding of the previous patterns in Ramadan will hopefully lead to better health promotion, behavior and nutrition modification programs among various communities those with high prevalence rates of obesity-related type 2 diabetes such as Saudi Arabia. This is a cross sectional descriptive study which was performed on a cohort of Saudi females nutrition students and their families living in Jeddah city, Western Saudi Arabia
Ramadan fasting is theoretically a golden opportunity to adopt healthy life style and dietary habits which will lead to weight reduction, better control of diabetes and its complications and perhaps other biochemical changes associated with metabolic syndrome [17-19]

Summary

Introduction

During Ramadan fast, approximately one billion Muslims abstain from food and fluid between the hours of sunrise to sunset, and usually eat a large meal after sunset and another meal before sunrise. The objective of this study is to identify the local pattern of expenditure on food consumption, dietary habits during Ramadan and correlate that to selfreported weight gain after Ramadan in a group of families in Jeddah, Western Saudi Arabia. Most kinds of different religious fasts, and Ramadan fast, have this potential as forms of dietary modification [2]. During Ramadan most Muslims change their life style [3], sleep hours [5], physical activities [6], food consumption, meals frequencies and dietary habits for different reasons [2,7,8,9,10]

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