Nutrition & Diets

In the last 20 years in India, there have been no significant changes in patterns of dietary intake. Cereals remain the staple food in India providing most of the energy intake. Since the seventies the consumption of foods like pulses, roots and tubers has fallen, while that of other foods like sugar, "jaggery" (unrefined brown sugar), fats and oils and green leafy vegetables have slightly increased. The average Indian diet remains largely deficient in green leafy vegetables, meat, fish, milk and milk products.

Recent Developments

National Nutrition Mission

  • Launched in March 2018, this is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India, which ensures convergence with various programmes i.e., Anganwadi Services, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) of MWCD, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), National Health Mission (NHM), Swachh-Bharat Mission, Public Distribution System (PDS), Department Food & Public Distribution, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation.
  • POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) is a multi-ministerial convergence mission with the vision to ensure attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022.
    • The objective of POSHAN Abhiyaan is to reduce stunting in identified Districts of India with the highest malnutrition burden by improving utilization of key Anganwadi Services and improving the quality of Anganwadi Services delivery.
    • It aims to ensure holistic development and adequate nutrition for pregnant women, mothers and children.
    • The programme through the targets will strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight babies. It will create synergy, ensure better monitoring, issue alerts for timely action, and encourage States/UTs to perform, guide and supervise the line Ministries and States/UTs to achieve the targeted goals.
    • The Abhiyaan targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
  • The target of the National Nutrition mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age group 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022).
  • Around 50% of the total fund is being provided by the Government Budgetary Support (50%) and 50% by International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or other Multilateral Development Banks.

National Nutrition Week

  • National Nutrition Week is observed every year from 1st September to 7th September to aware people about the importance of nutrition for the Human Body and well-being of health. People should include a healthy diet in their daily routine like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fat-free milk etc. with full of nutrition which not only helps in growth but also make immune system strong.
  • The theme for National Nutrition Week 2018 was 'Go Further with Food' and in 2017 was 'Optimal Infant & Young Child Feeding Practices: Better Child Health'.
  • This time the theme focused on the main source of nutrition which should be chosen wisely and requires you to explore the nutritious food options which are provided with by Mother Nature.
  • Also, nutrition week propagates a holistic approach towards a healthier society by one theme at a time.

Global Hunger Index 2018

  • The 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report - the thirteenth in an annual series—presents a multidimensional measure of global, regional and national hunger.
  • It is published jointly by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerh ilfe.
  • This year's report shows that the world has made progress in reducing hunger since 2000, but that this progress has been uneven, with levels of hunger still serious or alarming in 51 countries and extremely alarming in one country.
  • In the 2018 Global Hunger Index, India was ranked 103rd out of 119 qualifying countries. With a score of 31.1, India suffers from a serious level of hunger.

Nutrition & Diet Practice in India

  • For children 1-5 years of age, the prevalence of underweight ranged from 13% in the State Meghalaya to 77% in Gujarat. The prevalence of stunting ranged from 20% in Goa to 83% in Gujarat.
  • The distribution of stunting coincides almost exactly with that of underweight, i.e. the highest prevalence of stunting were observed in the same States as those of underweight. As for underweight and stunting, wasting is a serious public health problem in most States.
  • The distribution of wasting does not coincide with that of stunting and underweight except for the States of Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh which show the worst nutritional situation of all States in India.
  • The States of Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are highly affected by adult malnutrition with more than half of the adults having a BMI under 18.5 kg/m2. Patterns of child and adult malnutrition overlap in that both show extremely poor nutritional status in the states of Gujarat, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
  • In the last 20 years, there has been an improvement in the nutritional status of the Indian population. This improvement results from not only changes in food intake but also socio-economic factors, increased availability of potable water, lower morbidity and improvement of health facilities.
  • In adults, average BMI values were similar for both males and females. About 50% of the adult population had a BMI below 18.5 kg/m2 while only a negligible proportion were overweight or obese.
  • In a few States such as Arunachal Pradesh, obesity and correlated diseases are becoming a public health problem.

Importance of Nutrition

  • Nutrition is the science or practice of consuming and utilising foods. Food provides our body with energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly. Therefore, a balanced diet is important for good health and wellbeing. It is said that an unhealthy diet increases the risk of many diet-related diseases.Good Nutrition is necessary because-
    • With a poor diet well-being is reduced.
    • Helps to manage healthy weight.
    • Maintains immune system.
    • Provide energy.
    • Delays the effect of Ageing.
    • Reduces the risk of chronic diseases.
    • Healthy eating also affects your mood positively.
    • Healthy diet increases life span.

Malnutrition

Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and nutrients. The term malnutrition covers two broad groups of conditions.

  • Under-nutrition: which includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals).
  • Over nutrition: overweight, obesity and diet-related non- communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer).

Malnutrition Status in India

  • India’s child malnutrition rates have steadily decreased since 2006. The proportion of underweight children has fallen from 42.5% a decade ago, to just under 30% now. Similar improvements have been found when it comes to stunting, wasting and other parameters of malnutrition.
  • The nutritional status and developments in India has a challenging dynamic; the differences and cultural compositions of Indian states has definitely made the changing landscape of nutrition in India, very complex. It is interesting to note that overall urban child malnutrition rates are lower than that of rural India.
  • According to the National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS 4), 38.4 percent of children in India are stunted and 21 percent wasted. This grim situation continues to haunt the nation despite strong constitutiona support, legislative policies, and plan and programme commitments, like the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meal Scheme.
  • While Malnutrition and Infant Mortality Rates remain high, the budget allocated for minors, constituting 40% of India’s population remains at a meagre 4%.

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