Unhealthy Dietary Habits and Obesity: The Major Risk Factors Beyond Non-Communicable Diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh,Marwa M S Abbass

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.817808

Abstract

There are 22 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) expanding from Morocco in the west to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the east, containing a population of 725,721 million in 2020. In the previous 30 years, the illness burden in the EMR has transmitted from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. In 2019, cardiovascular mortality in the EMR was mostly attributed to ischemic heart disease, the first reason for mortality in 19 countries in the region. Stroke was the second reason for death in nine countries followed by diabetes, which was ranked as the second reason for death in two countries. The prominent nutrition-related NCDs risk factors in EMR include obesity, hypertension, high fasting plasma glucose, and upregulated unhealthy diet consumption. Most of the EMR population are unaware of their NCDs risk factor status. These risk factors, even if treated, are often poorly controlled, therefore, inhibiting their existence by changing the lifestyle to proper dietary habits and sufficient physical activity is mandatory. In this review, the epidemiology and nutrition-related risk factors of NCDs in the EMR will be discussed and illustrated, aiming to scale up action and support decision-makers in implementing cost effective strategies to address obesity and NCDs prevention and management in the region.

Highlights

The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) encompasses 22 countries including [Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen], with a population of ∼725,720 million [1].In the past three decades, similar to other developing regions in the world, the EMR has undergone a transmission in the disease burden from primarily communicable disorders, such as lower respiratory infections, to non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
In EMR, the high number of NCDs deaths was attributed to CVDs (1,464,672 million) in 2019
According to Franklin and Wong, hypertension is the main cause of cardiovascular disease, which worsens with age and may be the world’s leading cause of mortality [25]

Summary

Introduction

The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) encompasses 22 countries including [Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen], with a population of ∼725,720 million [1].In the past three decades, similar to other developing regions in the world, the EMR has undergone a transmission in the disease burden from primarily communicable disorders, such as lower respiratory infections, to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs include cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases. In 2015, nearly 58.4% of total deaths in the EMR were due to NCDs, with the chief cause being CVDs (27.4% of total deaths) [2, 3]. NCDs are the essential global cause of death and are responsible for over 70% of deaths worldwide [3]. NCDs were responsible for 41 million of the 57 million fatalities worldwide, 15 million of which were premature (30–70 years). The burden is the greatest among low- and middle-income countries, where 78% of global NCDs fatalities and 85% of premature deaths took place [4]. In 2019, the number of fatalities in EMR due to CVDs was 1,464,672 million, 431,312 thousand individuals died from cancer, and 186,841 thousand died from diabetes [6]

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