Objective. To highlight the perceived personal, social, and environmental barriers to healthy eating and physical activity among Arab adolescents. Method. A multistage stratified sampling method was used to select 4698 students aged 15–18 years (2240 males and 2458 females) from public schools. Seven Arab counties were included in the study, namely, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Palestine, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. Self‐reported questionnaire was used to list the barriers to healthy eating and physical activity facing these adolescents. Results. It was found that lack of information on healthy eating, lack of motivation to eat a healthy diet, and not having time to prepare or eat healthy food were the main barriers to healthy eating among both genders. For physical activity, the main barriers selected were lack of motivation to do physical activity, less support from teachers, and lack of time to do physical activity. In general, females faced more barriers to physical activity than males in all countries included. There were significant differences between males and females within each country and among countries for most barriers. Conclusion. Intervention programmes to combat obesity and other chronic noncommunicable diseases in the Arab world should include solutions to overcome the barriers to weight maintenance, particularly the sociocultural barriers to practising physical activity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the dietary patterns and sedentary behaviors among university students in Bahrain. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with students of the College of Health Sciences in Bahrain using a self-reported questionnaire. All the students enrolled in this college were included in this study (642 students; 90 males and 552 females). The mean age of the sample was 20.1±2.0 years. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on the students’ breakfast intake, snacking, food frequency intake, and sedentary habits. Results: More than 50% of the students did not consume breakfast on a daily basis. A statistically significant difference (p<0.003) was found between males (19%) and females (35%) in relation to the intake of an afternoon snack. There were no significant gender differences regarding frequency of food intake, except for carbonated beverages (p<0.001) and nuts (p<0.047) consumption. Females were more likely than males to spend time watching television, use the Internet, use a mobile phone and sleep; however, the only significant difference found was for Internet use (p<0.003). Being physically active on a daily basis was more prevalent among males (41.6%) than females (16%) (p<0.001). Females (42.9%) were more prone to sleep for less time (<7 h) than males (34.4%)(p<0.08). Conclusion: The findings indicated that a high percentage of health science students in Bahrain had unhealthy dietary habits and sedentary behaviors. Thus, an intervention program to promote healthy dietary patterns and lifestyle habits among university students is highly recommended.

Objective. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents in seven Arab countries using similar reference standard.Methods. A school-based cross-sectional study was carried out in seven cities in Arab countries, namely, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Palestine, Syria, and United Arab Emirates. A multistage stratified random sampling technique was used. The total sample included was 4698 adolescents aged from 15 to 18 years (2240 males, 2458 females). The International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) reference standard was used to classify the adolescents as nonobese, overweight, and obese.Results. Among males, overweight was highest among Kuwaiti adolescents (25.6%), followed by Jordanian (21.6%), and Syrian (19.7%) adolescents. Among females, the highest prevalence of overweight was reported in Libyan adolescents (26.6%), followed by Kuwaiti (20.8%), and Syrian (19.7%) adolescents. As for obesity, Kuwaiti adolescents showed the highest prevalence of obesity for both males (34.8%) and females (20.6%).Conclusion. There is an urgent need to establish a plan of action to combat obesity in schoolchildren in these countries.

Objective This study aimed to highlight nutritional status, dietary habits and sedentary patterns among university students in Khartoum state, Sudan. Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 400 university students (183 males and 217 females) from University of Khartoum, Sudan. A pre-validated self-reported questionnaire was used to collect the data. Weight and height were measured and body mass index was used to determine obesity status. Results Of the students, 20.5, 14.7, and 1.7 % were underweight, overweight and obese, respectively. The majority of students (85.5 %) consumed breakfast daily. About 45 and 21.8 % of students consumed vegetables and fruit, respectively, on more than 3 days a week. Fast food was consumed significantly more (p < 0.01) for more than 3 days per week by females (44.2 %) than males (27.3 %). Females (42.9 %) were more likely to watch television for 3 h and more per day than males (30.6 %) (p < 0.039). Males (33.9 %) were more prone to sleep for fewer than 7 h per day than females (23 %) (p < 0.016). Conclusion The health authority in Sudan should not only focus on prevention of malnutrition among children but also should organize programs to promote healthy eating and lifestyle among children and youths to prevent and control alarming risk factors for chronic diseases.

Objective To investigate the barriers to weight maintenance among university students in Kuwait by gender and obesity. Methods A sample of 530 students was selected at convenience from four universities in Kuwait (2 public and 2 private). The age of students ranged from 19 to 26 years. A self-reported pretested questionnaire was used to obtain the barriers, which were divided into barriers to healthy eating and barriers to physical activity. Weight and height were based on self-reporting, and the students were grouped into non-obese and obese according to the WHO classification. The response options to barriers were: very important, somewhat important and not important. Results The main barriers to healthy eating for both genders were: “Do not have skills to plan, shop for, prepare or cook healthy foods” and “Not having time to prepare or eat healthy food”. In general, there were no significant differences between men and women in barriers to healthy eating. There were highly significant differences between men and women regarding barriers to physical activity (P values ranged from <0.001 to <0.016). “Not having time to be physically active” and “The climate is not suitable for practising exercise” were the main barriers reported. Obese men were more likely to face barriers to healthy eating than non-obese men. There were no significant differences between obese and non-obese women regarding barriers to healthy eating and physical activity. Conclusion The findings of this study can be utilized in intervention activities to promote a healthy lifestyle and to combat obesity in Kuwait, and maybe in other Arab countries.