Dubai to reward weight loss with gold

Officials in Dubai have found a new way to incentivize weight loss during Ramadan: pay for it, with gold.

According to AFP, the Dubai municipality’s “Your Weight in Gold” initiative will give participants one gram of gold for every kilogram lost by August 16, provided they lose at least two kilograms in total.

The program takes place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Muslims fast every day during Ramadan, which runs from July 9 until August 7 this year. However, at night, worshippers break their fasts with lavish iftar dinners at sunset, featuring sweets and fatty foods, and many stay awake until 4 a.m. to eat the sohour meal before the fast starts once again.

“Unfortunately, many Muslim patients, and Muslims in general, tend to overeat upon breaking their fast,” Dr. Al Madani, head of Emirates Diabetes Society, told TradeArabia, “and usually the meal involves heavy, fatty foods that are high in calories.”

Participants will also enter a drawing that will award three winners gold coins worth 20,000 dirhams ($5,449). The city will distribute 200,000 dirhams to the rest of the participants.

To measure the weight loss, the UAE emirate will use scales installed in public parks. Participants will have the opportunity to consult with dietitians and are forbidden from using unhealthy and unsafe methods to drop the weight.

Obesity is a major problem in the Gulf, as more than one-third of its adults are obese. A 2013 UN report found that more than 43 percent of Kuwaitis, 35% of Saudis, 33% of UAE adults, and 32% of Qataris are obese.

Apparently, the Koran was prescient when it instructed the Muslim faithful, “Eat of the good things We have provided you; but exceed not therein, or My anger shall alight on you.”