Vitamin D deficiency Forum by Dutch Agriculture Office & UAE Al-Rawabi Dairy Co.
The Agriculture Office of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the GCC and Al-Rawabi Dairy Company held a forum to address Vitamin D deficiency in UAE on December 11th.
A forum with a theme “Vitamin D – The Future of Healthy Products” was held at Roda Al Murooj Downtown and was opened by HE Hans Sandee, Consul General of the Kingdom of Netherlands, and organized by Mr Erik Smidt, The Agricultural Counsellor of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Gulf, Mr Samar Kadri, Senior Policy Advisor for Agriculture and Food and Dr Ahmed El Tigani, CEO of Al Rawabi Dairy Company.
Vitamin D deficiency is thought to be a widespread public health problem globally being prevalent in places with limited sun exposure and in sunny countries like the United Arab Emirates and the whole of Middle East. Recent studies indicated that over 90 per cent of the UAE population is Vitamin D-deficient.
The program discussed the health impact of Vitamin D and its role on human health. Mr. Sumeet Mathur, Managing Director of FrieslandCampina Middle East discussed about the relation between dairy products and Vitamin D while Dr. Waffa Helmi Ayesh, Director of Clinical Nutrition Department at Dubai Health Authority lectured about Vitamin D and Pregnancy.
Mr Maarten Smit, Business Affairs Director Healthy Food Healthy Lifestyle – The Netherlands expound on the subject while a panel discussion on the forum’s theme provided comprehensive insights as well as recent updates in the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Vitamin D deficiency.
FrieslandCampina has been active in the Middle East – one of the world’s leading dairy markets – for several decades now. Consumers in the seven Gulf states have a broad range of dairy products to choose from in their supermarkets. These include evaporated and condensed milk, long-life drinking milk, cheese and cream. Evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk are imported from the Netherlands and are popular in the many tea shops throughout the Gulf. In addition to Rainbow, FrieslandCampina also carry the brands Omela and Coast for milk powder in the Middle East
“We believe this event will inspire and connect leaders, decision makers and health practitioners to enhance the awareness of Vitamin D deficiency. In a country such as the UAE where residents enjoy year-round sunshine, a deficiency in Vitamin D should be a cause for concern. The Netherlands is a country with the most highly developed dairy sector so we hope this partnership will help address this health issue and find collaborative ways to uplift the life of our residents,”
“We at Al Rawabi have been working for years to address health issues that affect the residents of our country. We are committed to improve the health of our people in the UAE and the region. In line with this commitment, we have launched the Al Rawabi Vitamin D Milk to prevent Vitamin D deficiency. Adult needs around 2000 units of Vitamin D on a daily basis and Al Rawabi Vitamin D Milk is designed to supply that daily requirement,”
“The lack of Vitamin D or not getting enough vitamin D may lead to serious and long-term complications so we should encourage everyone to live and practice a healthy lifestyle. We want to ensure a healthier, longer life for all so we must start making simple changes and make an effort to get the required sun exposure to enable our bodies to make Vitamin D,”
The Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide problem. The Netherlands is here today at the UAE to share their experience with the UAE and to learn from each other to tackle this problem.