Will Karak Keep You Warm, Healthy This Winter? UAE Nutritionist Clarifies

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) With temperatures dropping and a slight chill returning to the air, residents have begun turning to the popular karak to keep them warm.

Or, rely on their trusty supplements. Walk into any pharmacy in the UAE this week and see the winter display already up: vitamin C, zinc lozenges, ginger capsules, immunity boosters in every shape and size.

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Most of them, says Nada Zuhair Ahmad Al Adeeb, Secretary General of the UAE Nutrition Society, will not do what people hope they will.

“The real preparation starts in the kitchen, not at the supplement counter,” she says.

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Start with what you are probably missing

The UAE National Health Survey found that more than 83 per cent of Emirati men and women consume fewer than five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, the minimum the World Health Organisation recommends. Al Adeeb says this single habit, more than any other, is what leaves people vulnerable when the season changes.

The immune system runs on a wide range of nutrients working together. Citrus fruits and guava supply vitamin C. Leafy greens, broccoli and carrots provide folate and carotenoids. Chicken, fish, eggs and lentils deliver the protein the body needs to produce immune cells. None of this requires a pharmacy visit, but most people, she says, are still not getting enough of it.

The popular blends: helpful or overstated?

Al Adeeb is careful not to dismiss what many Emiratis reach for first. Honey can genuinely soothe a cough, she says, and ginger has real anti-inflammatory properties. But there is a difference between ingredients that are good for you and a blend that prevents infection.“People treat these mixtures as a shield,” she says.“The evidence does not support that.”

The same caution applies to karak and sweetened tea. Both are woven into the social fabric of a UAE winter, and neither needs to disappear from the table. What Al Adeeb flags is the habit of drinking several heavily sweetened cups throughout the day while believing they are doing the body good.

When supplements actually make sense

Studies have consistently found that vitamin C does not reduce how often people catch colds. Vitamin D and zinc matter for immune function, but only as supplements when a blood test has confirmed a deficiency, not simply because October has arrived. A less obvious mistake, Al Adeeb adds, is buying several products that contain the same nutrients, pushing daily intake above safe levels without realising it.

“A balanced diet gives you a complete picture,” she says.“One vitamin cannot do that alone.”

As for the habits that genuinely make a difference: drink water consistently, because thirst becomes less noticeable when the weather cools. Sleep well. Move outdoors while the weather allows it. And before reaching for the supplement aisle, Al Adeeb suggests a simpler question: when did you last eat enough vegetables?

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