Dubai introduces diabetes-friendly menus for World Diabetes Day

Introducing a diabetes-friendly menu at your work place canteen or school is a good way of drawing attention to the need to take action to tackle diabetes.

As part of this year’s global awareness drive for World Diabetes Day, the Jumeirah hotel group is introducing diabetes-friendly dishes in its restaurants in Dubai. The selected dishes will be indicated by the diabetes blue circle next to the name of the dish on the menu.

The diabetes-friendly menus will be made available in the Burj Al Arab, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the Jumeirah Emirates Towers.

Diabetes is a serious problem across the gulf states. The United Arab Emirates has the second highest prevalence of diabetes globally, with one in five people living in the UAE now have diabetes. This is expected to increase further to over 20% by 2030 if action is not taken.

Globally, only the tiny Western Pacific island nation of Nauru has a higher prevalence rate. In the top ten of countries with the highest prevalence of diabetes, half are from the MENA Region (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE).

The significance of diabetes in the region is behind the decision of the International diabetes Federation to hold its World Diabetes Congress in Dubai in 2011.