#Nosugar: UAE Twitter users debate taking the month-long challenge

An article in the New York Times about going a month without sugar got UAE Twitter user debating whether they could handle the challenge. Shirish Shete / Bloomberg News

In a region where sugar is king, and a country where obesity and diabetes rates are on the rise, any nudge to skip on sugar - as many in the West are already doing - is healthy a step in the right direction.

And so when Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the UAE, tweeted a link to an opinion piece from the New York Times on New Year's Day called A Month Without Sugar, people in this region paid attention.

The article pointed out how many unlikely products, including bread, chicken stock, sliced cheese and smoked salmon, contain sugar; it’s author encouraged readers to go 30 days without adding any extra sugar to their diets. The tweet appeared to strike a chord in the UAE, where, according to the International Diabetes Federation there were over 1 million cases of diabetes in UAE in 2015.

It has since been retweeted and liked hundreds of times, in the process seeming to encourage some to try and give up sugar for a month.

Media personality Nashwa Al Ruwaini, chief executive of Pyramedia, tweeted back: “Shall try. A month can be handled I guess. Thanks.”

A user called Shama, using three muscle flexing icons, tweeted her determination with: We’ll do it.

“Inshallah I’ll be doing it in February,” vowed Ahmad ElKhayyat.

A bin Maha Al Mazrouie tweeted in English: “I’m 6 months and on going without #Sugar, fresh fruit are more then enough for normal body.. feeling healthier, lighter.”

For some, including Mariam Al Qubaisi who tweeted in Arabic, it seemed too large of a challenge: “My will power is too weak against Kitkat, Kinder, Twix and Donuts.”

When some tweeted in Arabic they had already taken the challenge, others poked fun: “How are you still alive?” joked one user.

Another joked: “We are tired, no sugar, no salt, so better just to eat air.”