Toss out the junk food, bring back the healthy food plate
Relevance: GS Paper I
Why in News?
India is experiencing a significant "nutrition transition" as it transitions from traditional, high-fibre, whole-food diets to more processed, high-calorie Western-style diets, a trend characterised by rapid changes in dietary patterns.
Nutrition transition in India:
- The nutrition transition in India has coincided with rapid economic progress and urbanisation along with a surge in the consumption of packaged and processed foods (popularly called “junk foods”).
- These foods are nutritionally low in vitamins, minerals, and fibre but are high in calories, fats, salt, sugar, and innumerable preservatives.
Impact of changing dietary patterns:
- Junk food, high in fats, salts, and sugars (HFSS), has been linked to weakening the body's defences against infection, increasing blood pressure, leading to a spike in blood sugar, causing weight gain, and increasing the risk of cancer.
- In India, comfort foods are often packaged as cookies, cakes, chips, nankeen, instant noodles, sugary drinks, frozen meals, canned fruits, Indian sweets, and bakery products.
- Unhealthy diets are a major contributor to the high prevalence of lifestyle diseases in India.
- An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study published in 2023 estimates that in India, the prevalence of metabolic disorders is glaringly high, where 11% have diabetes, 35% are hypertensive, and almost 40% are suffering from abdominal obesity.
Influence of aggressive advertising:
- Indian dietary habits are influenced by aggressive advertising that promotes "tasty" and "affordable" comfort foods, especially those aimed at younger consumers.
- A pan India survey conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that 93% of children eat packaged food, 68% drink packaged sweetened beverages more than once a week, and 53% eat these foods daily.
- The ultra-processed food industry in India grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.37% between 2011 and 2021, and its predicted value is $535 billion by 2025-26.
Steps taken to protect consumers from unhealthy foods:
- Judicial intervention:
- The 2013 Supreme Court ruling emphasised that hazardous food articles threaten the fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
- Government initiatives:
- The Government of India has prioritised promoting healthy foods and an active lifestyle through initiatives like Eat Right India, Fit India Movement, and Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (Poshan) 2.0 to promote public health and well-being.
- Regulatory measures:
- The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued the Food Safety and Standards (Safe Food and Balanced Diets for Children in School) Regulations, 2020, to restrict the sale of HFSS in school canteens/mess premises, hostel kitchens, or within 50 metres of the school campus.
- The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has also issued a notice to a health drink giant to evaluate and withdraw all misleading advertisements, packaging, and labels that brand the product as a “health drink.”
- The commission cited the product’s high sugar content, which can adversely impact the health of children.
Way forward
Formulate a clear definition:
- While the FSSAI has released regulations restricting the consumption of HFSS foods, currently, there is no way to “define” or “identify” which foods fall into this category.
- Thus, it is imperative that the FSSAI “defines” what exactly constitutes HFSS foods in the Indian context, which can enable better implementation of food safety regulations.
- Moreover, institutions such as the NCPCR can help ensure stricter compliance with school food regulations.
Front-of-Pack Labelling (FOPL):
- Currently, we have access to a mathematical nutrition table in small print on the back of food packets, which most of us neither notice nor comprehend.
- For instance, the next time you open a package of chips, are you going to sit and calculate how much salt you are consuming in a packet when the label states that there are xx micrograms of sodium per 100 grams?
- The Indian Nutrition Rating (INR), where packaged food products would be given a star rating based on the overall nutritional profile of the product, is, in fact, included in the most recent draft of the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling & Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022. However, there are a number of concerns here -
- Star ratings will give producers a clear escape route: They may add one or two healthy components to raise the overall star rating while still selling unhealthy foods that are dangerously high in fat, sugar, and salt.
- Moreover, regulations are voluntary for four years from the date of final notification of the regulations.
- A “warning label” that states “high in salt” on the front might make more sense, particularly if you are a hypertensive patient.
- This is an illustration of a front-of-package nutrition labelling practice that draws one’s attention with clear and understandable signals that can help you make an informed food choice.
Subsidies for healthy foods:
- Policies can also be developed to facilitate positive subsidies for healthy foods such as whole foods, millet, fruits, and vegetables, improving their availability and affordability and resulting in greater consumption in rural and urban areas.
- The question for policymakers is how to make a fruit more affordable than a ₹5 high salt chips packet and ₹2 high sugar biscuits.
Behavioural change campaigns:
- A behavioural change campaign targeting children and young adults alike can play a critical role in helping youth adopt healthy dietary habits and mindful eating practices.
- This can include multimedia messaging on the health impacts of junk foods.
- Campaigns building on “vocal for local”, which promotes local and seasonal fruits and vegetables and traditional foods such as millets.
- Interactive discussions on balanced diets and tapping into social media influencers to mainstream conversations about the health risks of junk foods.
Conclusion:
Despite the policy intention to provide a safe food environment, much work remains to ensure the effective implementation of interventions that can impact the consumption of junk foods. It is critical to acknowledge the urgency of switching to healthier diets and creating public demand, or, as the Prime Minister of India calls it, a “Jan Andolan”, or people’s movement, for healthy and nutritionally diverse diets. These efforts must be accompanied by sincere policy interventions that help Indians exercise their right to make informed food choices.
