Kale awareness and use among Saudi adults
What it found
In an online survey of 1,200 Saudi adults, only 23% had ever eaten kale, and average knowledge about kale scored 3.6 out of 10.
Most who had tried it reported benefits like weight loss, but the authors say awareness is low.
What they found
Studies in people
Knowledge score
The average kale knowledge score was 3.6 out of 10 overall, 3.5 for males and 3.7 for females. About 60% knew kale is high in nutrients and low in fat, but far fewer knew about its effects on constipation, digestion, cancer or inflammation.
Who knew more
Older people, those with higher income and those with more education scored higher on kale knowledge. In males, only higher education mattered.
Kale consumption
Only 276 out of 1,200 (23%) had ever eaten kale. Among those, 64.5% reported positive health effects, most commonly weight loss, and 17.8% reported side effects like constipation and stomach irritation.
Awareness of kale
When asked if they had heard of kale, 53% of females and 42.2% of males said yes. But only 26.1% of females and 18.3% of males had actually eaten it.
What the authors conclude
“There is a lack of knowledge in Saudi Arabia regarding kale and its benefits to health.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say there is a lack of awareness about kale and its health benefits in Saudi Arabia.
- They advise that kale should be promoted as a superfood in all segments, especially among younger, lower-income and less-educated people.
- They suggest future research should test kale supplements in an intervention study for benefits like weight loss.
How it was done
The authors wanted to find out how much Saudi adults know about kale and its health benefits, because no studies had looked at this before. They plan to run a kale supplement trial and wanted to know which groups to target for promotion.
They ran an online survey of 1,200 Saudi adults between October and December 2020. Participants answered 13 questions about kale and its health effects, plus questions about whether they had eaten kale and what happened.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a survey, so it can only show links between things like income and knowledge, not cause and effect.
- The health effects people reported, like weight loss, were not measured by doctors, so the study cannot confirm them.
- The survey may not reflect how much kale people actually eat, since it did not use a food frequency questionnaire.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Researchers Supporting Project King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors state that they do not have competing interests.
- Authors work at
- King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
The paper
- Title
- Awareness, Knowledge and Attitude towards 'Superfood' Kale and Its Health Benefits among Arab Adults
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Alfawaz HA, Wani K, Alrakayan H, Alnaami AM, Al-Daghri NM (2022). Awareness, Knowledge and Attitude towards 'Superfood' Kale and Its Health Benefits among Arab Adults. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu14020245Free full textPubMed 35057426DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error