India’s obesity problem and its connection to the surge in non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension has been evident for some time now. The findings of a recent survey offer a clearer picture of what may be one of the biggest factors driving this ballooning crisis. Conducted as part of a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB), in collaboration with the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, the survey has found the typical diet across the country to be highly skewed in favour of carbohydrates, which contribute a whopping 62 per cent of daily calories for most Indians. Along with this overconsumption of refined carbohydrates — chiefly in the form of white rice, milled whole grains and added sugar —the survey, conducted with a sample of 1,21,077 Indian adults from urban and rural areas of 36 states, Union Territories and NCT-Delhi, has also found sub-optimal protein consumption. It is a crisis, in other words, that begins at the basic level of how people are putting together their meals.
But such steps are not nearly enough. Neither are government initiatives to encourage greater consumption of millets, which have been promoted as a more nutritionally-dense replacement for refined grains, as they do not take into account the fundamental problems of overindulgence in carbs and protein deficiency. This is also why policies that place political imperatives above public health concerns, such as the exclusion of eggs in midday meal schemes in various states, need a rethink. In a country where large portions of rice, roti and other grain-based foods form the centre of a meal, representing both security and satiation, what is needed is a strategy that places nutrition science at its centre, involving both children and adults. Overhauling the way people eat —how they have long eaten — is not going to be easy. But it must be done.
