摘要：Background and Objective: Qualitative and quantitative changes in diets represent the main characteristics of the dietary changes in Gulf countries. The objective of this paper is to describe and examine the patterns, growth rates and trends of food supply and consumption in Gulf Cooperation Council countries during the period of 1961-2013. Materials and Methods: The study depended mainly on secondary data derived from annual food balance sheets produced by the FAO. Trend analysis, annual growth rates, descriptive statistics and analysis of variance and means comparison were used to analyze the collected data. Results: A change in the consumption patterns, trends and annual growth rates in the GCC countries was noticed. These changes were manifested by the following facts: There was a low rate of increase in the cereal supply relative to other food items, The vegetable supply annual growth rate was highest in the UAE (4%) compared to the KSA (1.4%) and Kuwait (1%), The fruit supply showed an increasing trend in the KSA and a decreasing trend in Kuwait and the UAE, The shares of sugar and sweeteners in the food supply in KSA and Kuwait show increasing patterns, contrary to the situation in the UAE, Vegetable oils and animal fats supplies showed increasing patterns in both KSA and Kuwait, with contrasting trends in the UAE. Conclusion: There is a shift in dietary energy supply, protein and fat preference towards vegetal sources in the UAE and to animal products in the KSA and Kuwait. Moreover, the macronutrient contribution to caloric value showed disparity among GCC countries.
