Context
India’s food landscape has transformed dramatically, shifting from traditional home-cooked staples to ultra-processed, carbohydrate-heavy foods. Despite rising incomes and dietary diversification, this transition has fueled a surge in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), persistent protein and vegetable gaps, and an ecosystem where unhealthy food is cheaper and more convenient than healthy options.
Changing Dietary Patterns
- Spending on cereals has decreased, and there is a high level of reliance on refined carbohydrates. According to the ICMR-INDIAB (2024) research, low-quality carbohydrates such as refined cereals and added sugar continue to makeup 62% of the total energy consumption. Although expenditure on animal foods and produce has grown-milk/ dairy spending is up to 348 (urban) and 303 (rural), and fruit/ vegetable spending has increased almost twice compared to 2012- the changes have not supplanted the Indian dietary base composed of carbohydrates.
- The ultra-processed foods are no longer considered a treat but have become part and parcel of life, particularly following the phenomenon of time-poverty and a shifting lifestyle. According to NSSO HCES (2022-23), the expenditure of processed foods in rural India and urban India increased by 353 % and 222 % respectively since 1999, and the price elasticity has reduced to 90, meaning that the foods have become a need and not a luxury.
Inequality and Gap in nutrition
The rich are also limited in a large part to nutritional diversity. The 5% of urban Indians earning the most per capita, approximately 20,310INR/month, spend their money on food whereas the 5% earning the least, 2,376INR/month, do not spend a lot of money on food. The undernutrition and obesity burden continues to be put on poor households where they continue to consume high calorie foods with little nutritional value.
Health Consequences
- The most enormous health risk in India is currently poor nutrition, which has contributed to 56.4% of the total disease burden in the nation, exceeding the infectious diseases. Diabetes and obesity are increasing at a very high rate. ICMR-INDIAB indicates that there are 101 million diabetic people in India and that the number of cancer deaths will increase by 75% by the year 2050. According to NFHS-5, it is indicated that though stunting is experienced by 35.5% of children, urban obesity among women has reached 24% due to consumption of high-fat and high-sugar foods.
- There are still chronic protein and vegetable deficiencies, 80% of rural families are under the recommended protein intake, with cereals taking 60-75% of their diet. Chronic illnesses are costing lives prematurely due to diet-related diseases with NCDs cause 66 out of total deaths in India with disproportional effects on the productive population (3069 years).
Socio-Economic Drivers
- The economics of unhealthy, low-cost food gives that industry and architecture an economies of scale, which fresh produce cannot enjoy. As an example, a packet of chips can be 5-10, whereas an equivalent portion of fruit can be 3-4 times in urban metros, which encourages people to eat junk food. There remains consumption inequality where the Gini coefficient of consumption expenditure is 0.284 in urban regions indicating that even with an increase in income the food basket of the poor is still limited to staple food.
- Ultra-processed food is bought due to its convenience and shelf life, as well as the flavor. The fact that the price elasticity of processed foods has declined by 90 % shows that demand is no longer falling drastically as prices increase and this indicates that they are now considered as essential goods.
Sustainability and Policy Implications
- Scientific diets are able to emit fewer emissions and bring down consumer expenditures. By 2050, the agricultural output could be cut by 36% and 35% of the methane emissions and nitrous oxide in India respectively by following NIN 2024 dietary guidelines. A change in diet towards a planetary health diet has the potential to cut household food expenditures by 23% by substituting costly processed foods with less expensive foods based on plant-derived proteins, such as pulses and legumes.
- Diets that are rich in legumes fix soil nitrogen but this is natural and reduce the chemical fertilizer requirements. The substitution of 10% of the acreage of the cereals with pulses can save thousands of tonnes of the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer each year.
What Needs to Change?
- Strategic taxation: An ultra-processed food Sugar Tax, of 20-30%, based on the example of Mexico and the UK, is proposed to lower prevalence rates of obesity by 5-10%.
- Front-of-package labelling: Warning labels on High in Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) products are shown to have a significant impact on consumer choice; around 20% change in consumer choice in pilot studies.
- Cold chain and scaling PM-KISAN SAMPADA cold chains can salvage value on the 16% of fruits and vegetables that go to waste every year, and reduce retail pricing.
- Redirection of subsidies: Enhancing the 20 million hectares of non-paddy diversification by farmers through redirection of subsidies could encourage a farmers to switch 1.64 lakh crore of fertilizer subsidies to millet and pulse subsidies.
- Reform in the industry: FSSAI initiative, Eat right India, aims to lower the content of packaged foods in salt/sugar by 30% by 2025, by way of voluntary industry commitments.
Conclusion
The rise in the economy of India has failed to bring about nutritional security. Carb diets and ultra-processed dependence promote metabolic and climate damage. Structural availability, affordability, and convenience of healthy food have become the core part of the nutrition-disease cycle in India.
Source: The Indian Express
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