Egypt’s working poor are facing a silent killer: Bad food
Magdy’s predicament is a case study in what happens when lack of access to good food, long working hours and lack of physical movement collide.
His diabetes could have been prevented, or at least managed, when he was first diagnosed and in relatively good health. With access to healthy food and competent medical attention, Magdy would likely have remained in good health, continuing to work and living to old age without issues related to his diabetes.
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“The poorer you are, the more you are at the mercy of what is available in your immediate surroundings and what’s subsidized,” Hassan Wassef - a nutritionist and health policy analyst who has been studying the eating habits of the country for five decades, - explains. “Thus the high carbohydrate content, from cheap sources such as rice and pasta. You eat empty calories — calories with very low nutrient value.”
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For Egypt, addressing the problem of equal access to a consistent supply of affordable, clean fruit, vegetables and pulses is at the heart of the country’s food problems.
Read the full article by Maddison Sawle via Mada Masr.
[Photo by Samuel Apuna | Flickr]
