Muneera Q Al-Mssallem
This article reviews some traditional Saudi foods in terms of their nutritive values, glycaemic index (GI) and insulinaemic index (II). The relationship between the consumption of these foods and the prevalence of diabetes in Saudi Arabia has been discussed. This review reveals that traditional Saudi foods are good source of healthy carbohydrates that are consumed in forms of whole grains where they will be rich in fibre, some vitamins and minerals. For example, 26 % and 16 % of the requirements of iron and fibre for adults can be provided from consuming a serving size of Harees. Moreover, the GI value of most traditional Saudi foods has fallen within low range. The II value of some traditional Saudi foods such as Hassawi rice and Khalas dates also reported which was 56 and 63, respectively. The lower GI and II for most traditional Saudi foods suggest that these foods may have benefits on postprandial glycaemic and insulinaemic levels. These important features of traditional Saudi foods could provide substantial contribution to the improvement of Saudi diets in the management and prevention of diabetes mellitus (DM) where there is a high rate of prevalence of DM in Saudi Arabia. The recent dramatic modification in Saudi diet in particular modifying the type of carbohydrates content of the diet was behind the most health problem. Dietary advice should be given and good strategies should be taken in order to diminishing the occurrence of health problem escalation.