How the UAE’s conversation about obesity is moving beyond the scale

Résumé détaillé

For a long time, the conversation about obesity came down to one number on the scale. That is starting to change.Almost a quarter of adults in the UAE, 22.4 per cent, are living…

For a long time, the conversation about obesity came down to one number on the scale. That is starting to change.

Almost a quarter of adults in the UAE, 22.4 per cent, are living with obesity, according to the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Survey 2024-2025. The same survey found that more than half of adults have high cholesterol, about one in four has high blood pressure and one in eight has raised blood glucose.

Those conditions rarely turn up alone. Obesity is now widely recognised as a serious, chronic disease, closely tied to Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which is why it is increasingly discussed in terms of overall cardiometabolic health. For Venkat Kalyan, general manager of Novo Gulf, the company's aim is “lasting health”.

“It’s not just about achieving good health, but achieving good health that lasts,” he said. “We now have a huge wealth of data and knowledge on the science of obesity, and there’s a real sense of urgency to share it and make it accessible to everyone.”

Part of that shift is about how people living with obesity are seen. The condition is still often treated as a matter of personal discipline, and that stigma can stop people from seeking help at all.

“People living with obesity are too often told it’s simply about willpower. It isn’t,” Mr Kalyan said. “It’s a chronic disease, and it deserves the same medical care as any other.”

It also matters because of what tends to come with it. Excess weight puts added strain on the heart and is closely linked to raised blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, the same risks picked up in the national survey.

“Weight is often the first thing people see, but it’s rarely the whole story,” he said. “What really matters is what’s happening with the heart, blood sugar and blood pressure.”

That link between weight and the heart is where some of the most significant research of recent years has focused.

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