Hyderabad: India needs to bring more diversity in its meals — rich with locally available cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables — not only to tackle diseases like diabetes but also for overall health and fitness. This was the key takeaway from the panel on ‘What India Eats and Needs to Eat’ at the Hyderabad Literary Festival on Friday.
Indian dietary habits have observed several changes over the years, with more focus on ‘convenience’ rather than ‘nutrition’. Experts G. Subba Rao, a scientist at National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), and Dr Latha Sashi, a consultant nutritionist, debunked many myths around what is considered as ‘healthy’ during the discussion.
Dr Sashi stated that while it is a fact that food can serve all the nutritional requirements of a human body, there is an increasing trend towards nutritional supplements. “This is leading to the problem of deficiency in micronutrients among people, also called 'hidden hunger',” she said.
Emphasising the need for a diverse and enriched meal, the experts urged citizens to stay away from taking only one kind of food. “Someone telling you that you only need protein and nothing else, is lying to you,” Subba Rao said.
“NIN has listed around ten groups of foods like legumes, pulses, cereals, meats, fruits and vegetables, etc. We need to ensure we have at least five-six of them in every meal to meet our daily nutritional intake,” he added.
The experts mentioned that nutritional deficiencies develop usually in well-off people in urban areas, but now data shows similar deficiencies in rural areas.
“Even those taking in adequate amounts of calories are found deficient in these nutrients like iron, manganese, magnesium, etc.,” said Dr Sashi.
To look deeper into what Indians are consuming in their diets, NIN is working on releasing National Nutritional Atlas 2.0, announced Rao, which will provide a detailed study on food intake of people across the country.
“If you see the data for anaemia, only 50 per cent of it is caused by iron deficiency. Rest is caused by deficiency of other micronutrients that allow iron to do its business,” Rao stated.
"Indians have a proper body-mass index (BMI) and yet we are susceptible to non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension. What countries like the US and UK did to their population in 30 years, we are doing in ten years in terms of obesity,” Rao said. “The problems are aggravated by salt consumption and alcoholism,” he added.
“Policy makers must focus on providing healthy food in an equitable manner and reduce the accessibility of ultra-processed foods like cheap noodles and chips. While these processed foods are made available in Rs 2 packets, healthy foods like fruits are expensive,” Rao highlighted.
Shedding light on what’s impacting adolescents and children, Rao rued about increased screen time. “All India needs to do to stay healthy is take quality sleep and cut down on screen time,” he said.
Dr Sashi highlighted the needs for nutritional literacy and tackling misinformation through social media. “One has to go back and check the source of information before following a diet regimen. Moreover, a family needs to plan meals together. The task of planning meals should not be left to the woman alone. This helps involve children in taking responsibility for their nutritional habits,” Dr Sashi suggested.
The experts underscored the need for diverse meals despite increasing trends towards veganism and organic foods. “While vegan or plant-based foods increase costs, even ‘organic’ food would fail to serve the purpose if it's not diverse,” experts said.
