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Thursday, October 24, 2013

JUNK FOOD BUSTED: WHY AND HOW

Sheeba Madanan

Fast food has become ubiquitous in India. Presently the highest prevalence is in the upper-middle income group, but the fastest rise is in the lower-middle income group. Rural India is coming in the grip of junk according to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Report by the National Institute of Medical Statistics reports.

Fast food industry in India is growing at a compound annual rate of 35-40 per cent. Global and national players are fighting it out for a larger share of the pie. According to Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) latest publication, Junk Food Busted: Why and How, the only one losing out is you.

In a brilliant expose and guidebook for students, Director-General of CSE Sunita Narain and Deputy Director-General Chandra Bhushan explain why junk food is so deadly, what is the ‘fat’ problem of the world, why India should worry and why the consumer needs to be careful careful in a fun, non-pedantic fashion.

This colourful and gorgeously illustrated book deconstructs sneaky and aggressive advertisement and marketing strategies aimed at children and teenagers with a subliminal message luring them into buying junk food.

Ms. Narain and Mr. Bhushan point out the loopholes in Indian policy and regulations.  Did you know there is no official definition of junk food?  Most junk food comes in the category of either ‘snack food’ or ‘fast food’, which we have conveniently defined as ready-to-eat food.

The authors are concerned that children are seriously starved of real-time information about these products. Worse still, they know very little about their diet and their implications for their health.

Worldwide, 2.8 million people die each year of excess weight and obesity. India is the diabetes capital of the world. Fat India is even more at risk because their Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than Caucasian populations.

The book outlines the link between non-communicable diseases and diet, the link between salt and sugar and disease and warns of the looming crisis because of India’s serious salt problem.  It also references previous CSE studies on the presence of pesticides in soft drinks. They also point out that soft drinks and energy drinks also contain caffeine, a mildly addictive stimulant drug.

The CSE study on what transfats do to us is also referenced and the authors list global regulations, WHO recommendations as well as what the Indian government has done to set standards for transfats.

On the question of oil, how do you decide which is the healthiest oil for consumption? According to the authors, the problem is that the Indian oil industry remains poorly regulated and is allowed to mix oils. The book provides a guide to oils and offers valuable suggestions on healthy oils based on ingredients.

According to the authors, the way ahead is to make transfats standards strict enough to hurt, make schools and colleges off-limits for fraud foods, not let ads advise the young, slap a fat tax on junk food, spread the word and watch what you eat.