A survey of 143,000 adolescent respondents was carried out in 2022 as part of Let’s Fix Our Food Initiative, a public and private sector partnership between the Indian Public Health Foundation, the Indian Council for Medical Research, the National Institute of Nutrition and UNICEF.
The findings are currently undergoing reviews for publications in a scientific journal.
Unhealthy food advertising, often using accompaniment and celebrity games, strongly affects the choice of young people’s food, contributes to growing obesity and related diseases. Political short states that in India 90% of advertising for children and youth on television for foods with high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS). Studies show that such ads increase consumption; For example, children watching cartoon food ads ate 45% more.
It is reported that current Indian advertising rules, especially 2022 instructions, are weak and lack clear definitions for “unhealthy foods” or advertising on children. India must strengthen these rules by clear definitions and a wider range to protect everyone, not just children. Country such as Chile and South Korea shows a strong, compulsory restriction of advertising.
With projections from world obesity Atlas 2022 A survey, suggesting that more than 27 million Indian children and adolescents could be influenced by obesity by 2030, stressed that unhealthy eating habits and insufficient physical activity are key drivers with overweight and obesity among young people.
The survey found that almost half (49.46%) of respondents would receive most of their nutritional information from schools. Economic barriers, however, play an important role, while 30.7% of adolescents quote high prices as an obstacle to healthy foods.
While the vast majority (72.58%) of adolescents said that it reads information on food products, more than half (62.81%) stated that this information should be simplified.
In addition, about 43.88% of adolescents believe that providing more information about unhealthy foods could discourage them from consumption.
The results of the LFOF initiative, including detailed political shorts, were recently discussed at consulting the participating parties at a high level in the presence of Dr. VK Paula, Member, Niti Aayog and D Rajiv Bahl, CEO, ICMR.
In order to fight this growing crisis, the initiative urges the government to tighten the advertisements for unhealthy food products focused on children.
Other key recommendations include the introduction of health taxes with high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) and to ensure clear and simplified information about food packaging.
“Develop instructions for clear nutrition information on the front side of packaging food and regulate HFSS food consumption. Insert tax taxes on HFSS food.
Prof. Monika Arara, Vice President for Health Research and Promotion, Indian Public Health (PHFI) Foundation (PHFI), said: “Recommendations such as the introduction of health taxes in the HFSS food and clearer nutritional markings are currently discussed. They have been shared with the relevant parties.
HFSS food marketing solution
On the queue of taxation, the document said that health taxes in India are essential in the fight against obesity and related diseases driven by unhealthy foods such as sweet drinks. It is reported that the WHO supports taxation as a cost -effective solution that has already accepted more than 70 countries.
Modeling studies on fiscal policies in India have found that 20% of the sugar -matched sugar tax (SSB) could reduce overweight and obesity by 3% and diabetes 2. Type by 1.6% with the greatest relative effect expected in young country men. “The expansion of similar strategies as unhealthy foods, especially those aggressively sold for children, could play a decisive role in the protection of public health,” Profor said.
Dr. Tymya Swaminathan, a former Main Scientist and CEO of the ICMR, welcomed the key findings of the survey and reiterated that the growing trends of obesity and non -translated diseases (NCDs) in India are directly associated with the significant impact of adolescent food advertisements. It is associated with poor diet and lack of physical activity, predestines them to NCD, which is immediate steps necessary to reverse the trend.
It emphasized the need for strict advertising regulations to avoid unfounded demands, especially for products aimed at children with attractive characters or gifts that often have a high fat and sugar content. She also called for effective marking of the front packages and designed a clean system A, B (healthy) and C, D (unhealthy) based on fat, sugar and salt content than on the proposed marking of stars using FSSAI.
Furthermore, it advocated tax on tobacco health, sweets and foods with high fat/sugar content, similar to those in countries such as Thailand. Although recognition that such taxes in India are currently contributing to the general cash register, she stressed that ideally these funds should directly benefit public health systems and educational campaigns to discourage unhealthy consumption.
SURANJEET CHATTERJEE, Senior Consultant at the Internal Medicine Department, Apollo Hospitals Indrastha in Delhi, snapped these concerns, emphasized the critical need for strict advertising regulation in India. He stressed that confirmation of film stars and other prominent personalities is significantly influenced not only by children but also by adults. Dr. Chatterjee stressed that food marking must clearly indicate the amount of fat, sugar, salt and calories. He noted the shift of food consumption formulas, leading to an increase in heart disease, blood pressure and diabetes at a much younger age.
“Previously, patients in the age group 30-35 would come up with heart disease problems, but now the percentage in the age group of 25-35 years has increased,” he said, emphasizing the urgency of solving these health problems related to lifestyle.
“The report suggests that 68% of adolescents are influenced by food advertising and almost 31% said high food prices prevent them from healthy eating. These findings emphasize the urgent need to improve the availability and availability of nutritional foods for young people.
The findings strengthen the need to intervene policy at the system level to transform the food environment. Key recommendations include introduction of HFSS food (high -fat foods, salt and sugar), which are supported by global and regional evidence that shows their impact on reducing unhealthy food consumption and motivating better industrial procedures.
Who recommends taxation as one of the most cost -effective tools. The growing number of countries took steps to carry out fiscal policies that support a healthy diet, with 115 countries taxed sweet sugar since February 2024. Another 41 countries used national taxation in various unhealthy food categories, Misra added.
(Tagstotranslate) Obesity
