Efectos sobre la Salud de la Vestimenta Islámica: Difference between revisions

Este artículo discute los efectos potenciales sobre la salud para las mujeres que siguen el Hijab.

Hijab

La mayoría de mujeres musulmanas de todo el mundo, siguiendo el el requerimiento islámico de acatar el Hojab, llevan algún tipo de vestimenta islámica. Esto comprende desde llevar un simple paño cubriendo la cabeza, hasta el burka (una forma de "hijab completo"), el cual cubre casi toda la piel expuesta.

El hijab completo consta de los siguiente elementos:

• Jilbab; se refiere a cualquier prenda o capa larga y ancha llevada por las mujeres.
• Khimar; bufanda o pañuelo, a menudo referido simplemente como 'hijab', usado para cubrir la cabeza y el cuello.
• Niqab; una pieza de tela que oculta la cara.

Algunis juristas musulmanes consideran el llevar niqab como wajib (obligatorio), mientras que otros creen que es mustahab (con el favor de Allah).^[1]

Efectos sobre la Salud

Existe la preocupación entre la comunidad médica acerca de algunos efectos sobre la salud de los estilos extremos de la vestimenta islámica, siendo el principal asunto el déficit de Vitamina D debido a la falta de exposición de la piel a la luz ultravioleta (UVA). Se ha establecido mediante pruebas científicas fiables que casi todas las mujeres que siguen este código de vestimenta presentan déficit de Vitamina D crónico.^[2] La Vitamina D es un nutriente vital y su deficiencia puede acarrear diversas enferemedades.

Déficit de Vitamina D

La Vitamina D es una vitamina liposoluble, esencial para la salud humana.^[3][4] La Vitamina D se sintetiza cuando los rayos UVA de la luz del Sol impactan en la piel humana desencadenando una serie de reacciones. Es por este método como la inmensa mayoría de las personas reciben la dosis diaria de Vitamina D. De manera natural está ausente en cantidades significativas en casi todos los elementos usados comúnmente, con tan solo unos pocos conteniendo una cantidad apreciable o enriquecidos.^[5]

El papel principal de la Vitamina D en el cuerpo es regular la cantidad correcta de calcio presente en la sangre. Esta vitamina ayuda a la absorción del calcio para crear unos huesos fuertes y sanos. Por el contrario, una cantidad insuficiente conlleva a huesos débiles, quebradizos y deformes; una condición conocida como osteomalacia en adultos y raquitismo en niños. Cantidades suficiente son además cruciales para la prevención de fracturas y osteoporosis en adultos mayores.^[6]

Niveles bajos de Vitamina D también han sido ligados a un compendio de desórdenes devastadores incluyendo enfermedades cardiovasculares, diabetes tipo 1, esclerosis múltiple y artritis reumatoide. También existe una fuerte asociación entre deficiencia en Vitamina D y aumento del riesgo en desarrollar varios cánceres mortales, incluyendo el de pecho.^[7]

La preocupación no es sólo hacia las mujeres que eligen seguir las pautas que mñas cubren, si no hacia cualquier hijo potencial que pudiera llevar. Los niños nacidos de madres con déficit de Vitamina D son propensos a epilepsia.^[8] Si estos niños siguen con el hijab completo en la niñez, correrán el riesgo de no alcanzar la estatura que de otro modo sí conseguirían.^[9]

Islamic Dress and Health

Since almost all the daily intake of Vitamin D is from sunlight, exposure there is significant concern for women who wear the burqa or "full hijab". This style of dress, leaving only a very small portion of skin around the eyes exposed, greatly reduces the surface area of the body which sunlight is exposed to and hence reduces the amount of Vitamin D synthesized. Such low rates of Vitamin D production will quickly exhaust the bodies excess emergency stores of Vitamin D contained in the fat and the person will likely go into a deficient state.

Due to this reason, serious vitamin D deficiency is wide-spread in many Muslim majority countries. A study performed by doctors at King Fahd University Hospital in Saudi Arabia, showed that out of all 52 women tested, all had seriously deficient levels of Vitamin D and were at risk of many serious health problems, despite living in one of the sunniest places on the planet.^[10] Furthermore, in a study undertaken in Jordan, 83.3% of women wearing the most covering style of Islamic dresses were found to be deficient in summer time. This is rather striking when compared to the fact only 18.2% of Jordanian men studied were found to be deficient.^[11] Jordan, like Saudi Arabia, holds the distinction of being one of the sunniest places on the planet, so the effect of wearing the burqa on Vitamin D levels and health is profound.

Effect of Ethnicity and Migration

There is also concern for the health of immigrants from Islamic majority countries, most of which are around the equator and receive the highest amount of sunlight of any place on earth. There concern arises when these women migrate to countries with lower amounts of sunlight throughout the year compared to their previous home country. Skin tone is darkest at the equator in response to the sunlight.^[12][13] Darker skin blocks out significantly more UV radiation and hence decreases Vitamin D production by an enormous amount (people with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight).^[14] All these factors combined with the heavily covering Islamic dress create serious potential health concerns for Islamic migrants in countries away from the equator such as Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia.^[15][16]

This is further evidenced by numerous scientific studies. A study was undertaken in Dearborn, Michigan, the most-concentrated Arab-American settlement in the United States to assess the relationship between Vitamin D levels and Islamic dress choice in migrant Arab-American Muslim women. The average vitamin D level was found to be 4 ng/ml in veiled women who undertook no vitamin D supplementation and 7 ng/ml in women who wore the same style veil but chose to take supplements.^[17] The threshold for rickets and osteomalacia risk is 8 ng/ml and below; clinical deficiency is considered as anything below 16 ng/ml.^[18] This illustrates a very serious health risk for migrant Muslim women who immigrate to such countries and wear the burqa.

In the United Kingdom, cases of rickets have been rare until recently. Cases of the disease have increased dramatically due to the growing Muslim population.^[19][20][21]

Obesity

It has been noted that the observance of hijab, the garments and the traditions surrounding them, can discourage exercise both psychologically and practically.^[22][23] The style of dress can make it easy to hide the bloat of a large meal, and it can be physically restrictive for those who wish to exercise, especially outdoors where one has to be aware of the weather (if it is too hot or humid). In the West, where most indoor gyms are mixed-sex, exercise without Islamic dress can be very difficult for observant Muslim women, and some forms of Islamic dress can make playing almost any sport nearly impossible.^[22][23]

According to The Economist magazine’s world rankings, the countries with the highest obesity rates among women are Muslim countries^[22] (data from 1999-2003 show 8 of the top 10 to be Muslim majorities; Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Albania, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates),^[24] and a 2006 study presented by Qatari expert Issam Abd Rabbu at the "Facts About Obesity" seminar, found that up to 70 percent of women living in the Gulf Arab states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) were overweight or obese.^[25] Dr. Abdul Rahman Musaiqir, head of the Arab Center for Nutrition at Bahrain University, has said the problem of obesity among women in the Gulf states is being disguised by their Islamic dress, and that obesity rates are much higher than in developed countries.^[26]

A 2011 study issued by the National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia’s largest bank, found that the number of Saudis suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity is increasing at an alarming rate, and a survey released by the Saudi Diabetes and Endocrine Association (SDEA) in 2010 showed that over 70 percent of the Saudi population are "alarmingly obese".^[27] Figures released by the Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA) state that 20% of the population has been diagnosed as diabetic in Qatar, and the disorder is affecting more and more children.^[23] Some of the health problems associated with obesity include; heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, painful wear and inflammation on weight-bearing joints, breathing problems and sleep apnea.^[28]

Implications for the Islamic Faith

The observance of hijab prevents women from getting enough vitamin D. This can lead to a whole host of disorders. For Islam as a religion, the implications are troublesome.

Islam is considered by its adherents to be the perfect way of life for mankind. If Islam was mandated by Allah, and if he wanted women to observe hijab, then logically he would not have created humans with the need to get Vitamin D from exposing their skin to the sun.

It could be argued that today this can be combated with vitamin D supplementation combined with daily exposure to the sun in the privacy of ones backyard or some other location safe from the eyes of non-mahram men. However, this is not a satisfactory solution.

Many are not fortunate enough to have their own private gardens where they can sit, and sitting in front of a window inside their homes will not help because window glass only lets through UV-A rays, not UV-B and UV-C. You need UV-B rays for the production of vitamin D.^[29]

Furthermore, it was only in 1923 that it was established when 7-dehydrocholesterol is irradiated with light, a form of a fat-soluble vitamin is produced,^[30] and until the mid-1930s, when the first commercial yeast-extract and semi-synthetic vitamin C supplement tablets were sold, vitamins were obtained solely through food intake and (in the case of vitamin D) through exposure to the sun.^[31]

So what of the Muslim women prior to the 1930s and their vitamin intake? If this were a satisfactory explanation to avoid Islam contradicting modern scientific knowledge, then it would have been mentioned in the Qur'an or hadith literature, but it is not.

It could also be argued that long-term excessive exposure to UV radiation from sunlight can cause skin cancer and other ailments. However, according to epidemiologist Robyn Lucas at Australian National University,^[32] analysis of lifespan versus disease shows that far more lives are lost to diseases caused by lack of sunlight than by those caused by too much,^[33] and of course, a women is always capable of avoiding what she feels to be too much or too little sunlight, but with the restrictive Islamic dress laws in force, this ability is taken away from her.

See Also

• Hijab - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Hijab
• Health - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Health

Translations

• A version of this page is also available in the following languages: Bulgarian. For additional languages, see the sidebar on the left.

External Links

• Women could endanger their health by wearing burqas - Digital Journal
• Addressing vitamin D deficiency among veiled pregnant women in Australia - Excerpt from 'Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia
• Middle Eastern women may have vitamin D deficiency - Reuters
• The consequences of Islamic dress - FFI Forum
• Synthetic Hijabs Get Under Tajik Women's Skin - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
• Burqa-clad women prone to vitamin D deficiency: Doctors - The Times of India

References