Dipak Kurmi
(The writer can be reached at dipakkurmiglpltd@gmail.com.)
TThe Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) would certainly disagree
with the idea that “the secret to success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out from within.” The focus of the ICMR is not on success in life, but on promoting health through good nutrition and guarding against misleading practices in the food industry, such as the incorrect use of the term ‘organic’. For a product to be truly ‘organic’, it must be free of artificial preservatives and made from organically grown ingredients. To ensure authenticity, look for the ‘Jaivik Bharat’ certification logo.
Where possible, it is wise not to rely on packaged food. Instead, start with the basics by purchasing fresh ingredients and preparing nutritious, home-cooked meals. This approach not only rejuvenates you, your family and your friends, but also helps prevent obesity, laziness and diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and clogged arteries. Choose steaming over roasting and broiling over grilling. Combine these healthy eating habits with regular, moderate exercise (yoga is a popular choice worldwide) and with walking, jogging or simply doing household chores. This routine can help you maintain a slim waist as you approach middle age and slow muscle loss in old age.
In an effort to promote nutritional awareness in India, the National Institute of Nutrition, part of the ICMR and based in Hyderabad, has been issuing ‘Dietary Guidelines for Indians’ (DGI) since 1998. The latest edition was published this month, after a significant hiatus since the previous version in 2011. This begs the question: how have India’s health statistics evolved over this period?
The encouraging news is that between 2016 and 2021 (with post-2011 data not provided), chronic energy deficiency among adults has decreased significantly. Specifically, the number of affected men fell by 31% and the number of women by 19% from the troubling baseline, where around a quarter of adults were affected.
Even more promising is the reduction in abdominal obesity, with 14% fewer men and 11% fewer women affected compared to previously alarming figures – more than half of men and two-thirds of women. This begs the question: why this gender inequality? Perhaps more men visited the ICMR website and adhered to the 2011 guidelines, which were available to download and save to a desktop. However, the current guidelines are only available online and run to 148 pages, making them somewhat difficult to navigate.
ICMR recognizes that nutrition is influenced by cultural practices. Take, for example, the widespread addiction to salt and sugar. Although everyday foods already contain plenty of sodium (the main component of salt), it is common to add more for flavor. The importance of salt in Indian culture is highlighted by the fact that it was taxed during colonial times, while gold was not. Mahatma Gandhi famously started his civil disobedience movement in 1930 by making salt in Dandi in Gujarat, directly challenging the colonial salt tax. This cultural affinity with salt continues today. ICMR highlights the increasing consumption of packaged fast food, snacks and sugary drinks, which often contain excessive salt and sugar, which is harmful to health. While sugar provides energy, so do grains, millet, legumes, nuts, dairy products, meat, eggs and fish, which naturally provide sufficient energy.
Maintaining a delicate balance between the macrominerals sodium and potassium is crucial. Sodium is abundant in grains, legumes, vegetables and milk, while potassium is abundant in beans, lentils, bananas and nuts. Minerals are generally essential nutrients that nourish the body. Dried fish is the richest source of calcium, while dairy products provide half as much, followed by seafood and green leafy vegetables. Iron is most concentrated in dried fish, followed by green leafy vegetables, legumes and nuts. Nuts are the best sources of magnesium, followed by millet, legumes and meat.
As much as 56.4 percent of the disease burden (both mortality and morbidity) results from unhealthy diet and insufficient exercise. Maintaining nutritional balance is critical, especially for children. Unfortunately, poor dietary habits learned early in life lead to a lifelong burden of disease. Alarmingly, 40 percent of children aged one to four years are anemic, and 14 to 32 percent are missing essential micronutrients such as zinc, folic acid, iron and vitamins. Of children between the ages of five and nine, 24 percent have anemia and micronutrient deficiency, a condition that persists in 28 percent of children between the ages of ten and nineteen. This indicates that premature nutritional deficiencies could permanently harm nearly 40 percent of the future workforce, having a substantial social impact on the economy and causing significant personal suffering for affected individuals.
Like its predecessors, the latest edition of the DGI closely tailors the dietary guidelines to different demographic groups, including infants, children, young adults, women, pregnant and lactating women, men and seniors. Detailed meal plans are available for each group, with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. The cover page itself shows eggs and meat, called ‘meat food’ in accordance with vegetarian terminology. While vegans abstain from all animal products, including eggs and milk, ovo-vegetarians enjoy them. ICMR recommends consuming two to three balanced meals daily, appropriate to age and body composition, with sufficient intervals between meals to facilitate optimal absorption of nutrients by the body fluids and organs.
The consumption of tea and coffee during meals is not recommended, a recommendation that may disappoint cultures where tea serves as a cornerstone of conviviality and bonding.
Ultimately, the crucial question remains: how many Indians have the resources to afford a complete diet?
Is it a lack of nutritional knowledge or simply economic constraints that cause many families to consume unhealthy diets? The Union government is allocating Rs 2 trillion for an unchanging food grain-oriented free food scheme for low-income households. A step in the right direction would be to bring these handouts in line with the ICMR’s balanced diet recommendations. Alternatively, an even more effective approach could be to calculate the cost of these meals and transfer the money directly to the bank accounts of the 110 million beneficiaries.