Obesity levels are rising in India, UN figures have revealed, putting the risk of “catastrophic” rates of diabetes and heart disease.
While childhood growth and malnutrition have declined in India in the past decade, an additional nine million people have become obese, bringing the total to 34 million.
According to experts, that is the fault of cheap, unhealthy food that ends up on the market.
The UN shouted rising global obesity rates “alarming” and said they will lead to an increase in non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
India is already suffering from a diabetes crisis, with an estimated 77 million diabetics – the second worst worldwide. The disease is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and amputation of the lower limbs.
“India’s diabetes rates are catastrophic,” Prof Corinna Hawkes, who specializes in food policy at the City of London, told me. The Telegraph† “It’s really bad — it leads to complications, amputations and costs a fortune to manage.”
Experts say all forecasts estimate that obesity in India will rise in the coming years.
“The foods that lead to obesity are more affordable and available on the market,” she said. “Many people in India get their food from street vendors and restaurants. These contain a lot of oil and are often fried.”
Salty and sweet snacks have also become popular, and the country has experienced a “noodle revolution” — ready-to-eat packets are filled with carbs and fat, she said.
“Our feeding practices for young children are some of the worst in the world. For example, we put our children at a disadvantage from an early age to become metabolically unhealthy and contract non-communicable diseases earlier in adult life,” added Dr. Shweta Khandelwal of the Public Health Foundation of India.
dr. Khandelwal also blamed the “massive rise” in diabetes on a lack of coordinated policies, saying the government has not aligned nutrition, health, agriculture, finance and development to work together and form coherent policies.
Heavy price for unhealthy food
Meanwhile, the general population is “in the know but not alarmed, informed but not taking action,” said Dr. Khandelwal.
India is not an anomaly† Globally, adult obesity has nearly doubled from 343.1 million in 2000 to 675.7 million in 2016. But at the same time, the number of people suffering from hunger in the world has increased by 150 million since the start of the Covid pandemic and the number of people with chronic malnutrition rose to a staggering 828 million last year.
The UN warned that by promoting modern agri-food systems, countries have seen the emergence of low-priced foods with high energy density and minimal nutritional value. “The health costs of unhealthy diets are high — with diet-related health costs associated with mortality and non-communicable diseases projected to exceed $1.3 trillion per year by 2030,” the UN said.
Prof Hawkes warned that the Indian health system is not fit to provide adequate care to the general population for widespread non-communicable diseases.
Government underfunding and the growth of private healthcare providers have pushed the cost of medical treatment to extortionate prices, and more than 17 percent of Indian households now incur catastrophic health costs every year, according to the WHO.
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