by Although poor nutritional outcomes are a recognized problem among the Indian population, there is little discussion in policy circles about what Indians eat.
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For a long time, food security was reduced to satisfying the physical feeling of hunger. However, not enough attention has been paid in research or policy to the quality of the food people eat or what people’s diets have driven. With high levels of anemia on the one hand and the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases on the other, there is an urgent need for policy attention to dietary diversity.>
Even when child malnutrition is addressed, along with other factors such as sanitation, nurseries for childcare and improved child feeding practices, the quality of children’s diets remains an issue. According to the NFHS-5, only 11.3% of children in the age group between six months and two years are given a ‘minimum acceptable diet’ as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). This includes the frequency of feeding as well as a minimum variety of diet.
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Diet surveys of the type conducted in many parts of the world are also missing in India – therefore, there is little data on dietary variation among the population.
The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) of the National Nutrition Institute (NIN) used to conduct dietary surveys but this was stopped about 10 years ago. Even when NNMB surveys were conducted, they did not cover every state in the country and had small samples. However, there are reports that a national dietary survey is currently underway.
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The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) includes some questions on food consumption, but these are not enough to give us complete information on dietary variation. Although we understand which food groups are regularly included in people’s consumption, this survey does not include any data on the quantities consumed. Therefore, even a spoonful of milk added to a cup of tea every day could be counted as drinking milk daily.>
According to the latest NFHS data, 56.2% of men and 49.6% of women eat fruit at least once a week, and 57.8% of men and 45.1% of women eat eggs at least once a week.>
The National Sample Survey Office’s consumption expenditure survey (CES) also provides some information on food consumption. The data from the recent household CES (2022-23) has yet to be analyzed to estimate calorie or protein consumption; The data from the report shows that per capita consumption of cereals is decreasing over the years from 12.72 kg per person per month in 1999-2000 to 9.61 kg per person per month in 2022-23.>
Although there are issues of comparability in the different rounds of the survey, this trend is a long-term trend of a reduction in the quantity of cereal consumed. About 10% of the food budget is spent on cereals in rural and urban areas and about 18% on milk. Vegetables, fruit, ‘eggs, fish and meat’ account for a similar proportion of total food expenditure in rural and urban areas (around 9% to 11%).
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Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty>
What is most significant is that almost 21% of the food budget is spent in rural areas and 27% in urban areas on drinks, refreshments and processed food. This must be understood carefully in light of the harmful effects of consumption, especially of ultra-processed foods. >
Analysis of unit data may provide additional insight into dietary patterns, but this is not the same as a dietary survey. The survey essentially asks questions about expenditure on food items, which are then used to derive nutritional information at the household level. For example, if rice was used as an ingredient to make kheer at home, this would be shown as ‘rice’ rather than ‘kheer’. Information on distribution within the family is not available from this survey either.>
What we do know for sure is that there is great scope for improving dietary diversity. There is also some information available about the drivers of poor dietary diversity, although much more granular research is needed.
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For example, the report on State of Food Security and Nutrition around the World, 2024 A group of UN organizations estimates that 55.6% of India’s population cannot afford a healthy diet. Affordability is determined by both income levels as well as prices. While we know that a large portion of the Indian population earns a very low income, food prices are more volatile.
In a recent paper i Economic and Political weeklyInternational Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) researchers Sudha Narayanan, Kalyani Raghunathan and Anita Christopher argue for calculating the cost of health diets (COHD) together with consumer price indices (CPI-F).>
They show that although the two are correlated, they do not always move in the same direction. The COHD estimates the cost of purchasing the daily quantities of various foods as recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), from the cheapest source. This would clearly be a better metric of what people need to meet their health and nutrition needs compared to the CPIs. They could be the basis for calculating minimum wages, poverty lines and so on.
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In addition to accurate measurement, food and nutrition security policies need to broaden their focus from cereal security to healthy diets. Agricultural policies for food security have traditionally focused on cereals alone, particularly durum wheat and wheat.>
Although there are now some references to mills, the interventions on pulses and oils are far from sufficient. The public distribution system (PDS) mainly distributes only rice and wheat, although millets, pulses and/or edible oils are included in some states.>
Even the meals given to children in schools and Anganwadis do not vary much in terms of sources of proteins and micronutrients. Children across the country are usually fed some form of rice and dal, with little added vegetables, fruit or animal proteins such as eggs, milk or meat.
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At the other end of the spectrum, issues relating to the regulation of marketing and sales of processed foods are also important. Shifting attention to improving dietary diversity for all can also be a good way towards a comprehensive food and nutrition policy based on a ‘food systems’ approach. >
Dipa Sinha is a development economist.>
