IT IS the growing Middle Eastern crisis people may not have heard about and has nothing to do with Islamic State.

An obesity crisis is proving to be the hidden danger creeping up on its citizens.

As obesity levels soar across the region, particularly the Gulf States, the International Diabetes Federation warns there are 37 million people living with diabetes in the Middle East and North Africa which is almost 10 per cent of the population.

However, it also warns up to 50 per cent of people may not even realise they have it and projects the amount of people suffering the disease could double in just 20 years.

The health problem has attracted some media attention in recent years.

In 2013, Saudi man Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari made global headlines when footage showed him being taken out of his home with the help of a forklift to receive treatment.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia ordered Shaari to be transferred from the southern border province of Jazan to the country’s capital Riyadh to undergo treatment.

The then 21-year-old, who reportedly weighed more than 600kg, is an extreme case of the obesity crisis gripping the region, according to CNN.

Shaari was unable to move on his own and hadn’t left home in three years, the New York Daily News reported.

He was at the time regarded as one of the world’s fattest people, but had managed to lose a staggering 317kg in February last year.

Concerns over the region’s obesity crisis comes as a report warned health costs are set triple across the Gulf to $133.2 billion by 2018, largely due to lifestyle diseases.

One man Shahzad Ahmed who moved to Abu Dhabi with his family 10 years ago told CNN his health has massively suffered, largely due to having a more sedentary lifestyle and an abundance of food.

“[There’s] this luxurious lifestyle, especially in this country,” he told the broadcaster.

“We are not very active, generally there’s air conditioned atmosphere, we’re doing work on the computers ... watching TV.”

A study released last year by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington found the problem wasn’t limited to the Middle East.

It revealed the staggering growth of obesity across the world.

The study also showed the rate of growth in obesity levels in Australia was the second highest level in the world with a growth rate of 13 per cent.