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Navigating India's Food Landscape and Combatting Rising Obesity
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News18•10-10-2026, 15:01
Navigating India's Food Landscape and Combatting Rising Obesity
- •Experts urge consumers to read food labels carefully amid rising concerns over obesity and lifestyle diseases in India.
- •Packaged snacks and ready-to-eat meals often feature misleading health claims like natural, multigrain, or low-fat.
- •Front-of-package marketing can heavily influence purchasing decisions without revealing the full nutritional story.
Key Questions Answered
The latest National Family Health Survey data shows that more than one in four Indian adults are overweight or obese, with nearly 36.3 percent of men falling into this category.
According to a series published in The Lancet, India experienced the fastest growth in sales of ultra-processed foods globally, with the market expanding from $0.9 billion in 2006 to nearly $38 billion in 2019.
Leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration, which officially placed obesity and non-communicable diseases on the BRICS health agenda and endorsed a roadmap for healthy lifestyle promotion for 2026–2029.
