- As humanity evolved over the millennium, the urge, necessity, and imperativeness to sustain life forced humankind to keep experimenting with the availability of food to not only ensure we live healthily but also make enough provision to save for future needs. The quest to invent newer and newer life-saving food fit for human consumption promptly led to several innovative inventions leading to the present-day generation being blessed with options galore to choose from. Every nation worth its salt would strive to ensure it remains self-sufficient in food without having to bank on outside help for sustenance. No wonder, agricultural revolutions undertaken over centuries have enabled humanity to remain steadfast in ensuring food self-sufficiency.
PC: The Economic Times
- The moot point to ponder over here is whether whatever is being consumed now is relevant, nutritious, and fit enough to ensure the right amount of proteins and minerals are consumed by us to stay healthy. Let’s dwelve deep to understand where we stand in India vis-à-vis nutritious/healthy dietary habits. We all have heard and read about this over the years. Instead of living to eat, how about eating to live healthier and longer? Who would not want to do this? However, the most persuasive data point in The Dietary Guidelines for Indians released last week is that 56% of our total disease burden is thanks to unhealthy diets. This must raise alarm bells instantly among all concerned. But can this ICMR-NIN effort deliver gravely needed diet reforms?
- Only if it’s widely disseminated and gets meaningful policy support. That the guidelines are designed to be flexible and practical is important – to accommodate the diverse food cultures of India and also the diverse nutrition needs of, say, infants and athletes. But the general takeaways are loud and clear. And the primary one is that India is gorging on cereals. Leaving it short on essential macronutrients and micronutrients. Most Indians’ dietary preferences see fruits and vegetables occupying the biggest and bottom shelf. Contrarily, cereals are set on the narrower second shelf sharing the limelight with nutri cereals, also known as millets. Not long back, millets were a traditional diet. Govt policies and markets took decades to throw them out of the kitchen.
PC: The Economic Times
- Further, bringing them back cannot now happen at pace without bold changes in the MSP-PDS schema. Against the recommendation of 500g, Indians eat just 100g to 200g of vegetables and fruits a day. But there is an anxiety common to even those who overcome the price and/or taste barriers to switching rice for salad. Is it overladen with pesticides? Dietary guidelines can help guide individuals to make better choices. But this effort must be matched by regulators and other authorities, for it to truly pay off. The guidelines are dense, and experts will debate them over time. Also, the share of calories from protein sources is found to be only 6-8% in India compared to 29% in the EAT-Lancet reference diet. Some food for thought for the authorities is in order.
