Now 61% suffer from non-communicable diseases: Dr. Arvind Pratap, MBBS

 

 Dr. Arvind Pratap, MBBS(Consultant: Health at JanMitra Nyas)  in  Public Dialogue on Children’s Nutritional rights and Package food Labelling on 2 December,2021 at Diamond Hotel, #Varanasi

Guests seated at the podium, my brothers and sisters from the villages, let me try to explain to you in very direct and precise terms what we are fighting for and why that battle is actually being fought. First of all, let me make it clear that we are not against packet foods. We are not against buying any other product; our aim is only that the products we use are good for our health. That is what I will attempt to explain to you, now that we know what is there in packaged food that is harmful to our health, when we examine it carefully, it lacks protein and fibre.

While at the same time we find very high quantities of sugar, salt, fat, and calorie content that is harmful for our health, children don't know this since it is so readily available. See now that the fight against malnutrition in our country is not over and now 14 million children in our country are obese. Children obese are at risk for obesity-related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and pulmonary diseases. Young children suffer from it, and as they go into adolescence, they suffer from it, they slowdown in physical activities.  The health of our country is threatened by packet food, or Chinese food sold on the streets, which has huge quantities of salt, spurious oils, or unregulated huge quantities of sugar in soft drinks  and locally manufactured lemonade, which children enjoy and ditch nutritious food and become addicted to packet food. The trend that shows how the ratio of diseases has increased and decreased over the past 25-30 years, and the second is why we have begun to consume more sugar, fat, and salt. There are three ways of arranging these three ingredients in packaged food, now we know that India has reached the second spot in the world, with more than 70 million children suffering from diabetes in adolescence. China is ahead of us by five to ten years in this regard. Unless it is taken into account, there can be an explosive situation. Among other things that we consume in everyday life, it tells us how much sugar is there, how much salt is there, how many calories it contains, and how much fat it contains. The amount of salt that a child consumes when he consumes one or two packaged foods in a day is discussed a lot. This is also true concerning obesity. Here, the number of malnourished is 50 percent, but the number of obese has reached 20 percent. Over the past 20-25 years, the impact of packaged food has been seen, now that is being referred to as a ‘Double Burden of Malnutrition’, which is being seen at every level. The problem is that when a lean thin stunted person becomes malnourished, it appears that he is moving towards obesity. Take a look at the 1990s, when packaged food has not yet entered the market, and compare it to 2016-17, when packaged food has reached the farthest corners of the country.  NCDs increased from 9% to 25% in Uttar Pradesh in a span of 20 to 25 years. By 2030, the situation would be explosive if the situation is not checked. People used to suffer from communicable diseases earlier, but now 61% suffer from non-communicable diseases.

#PacketKeAndarKyaHai #children #nutrition #health #ncd #PVCHR #pipal #JubileeTV