Diversity in Food Behaviour is a way for better world
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Diversity in Food Behaviour is a way for better world
Lenin Raghuvanshi[i]
“Eat
a variety of foods,” or dietary diversity, is a widely accepted recommendation
to promote a healthy, nutritionally adequate diet and to reduce the risk of
major chronic diseases. Research paper titled ‘Dietary Diversity: implications
for obesity prevention in adult populations’ mentions, “the preponderance of
evidence does not support the notion of dietary diversity as an effective
strategy to promote healthy eating patterns and healthy body weight. Limited
evidence suggests that dietary diversity may contribute to increased energy
intake, suboptimal eating patterns, and weight gain in adult populations. Given
the current state of the science on dietary diversity and the insufficient data
to inform recommendations on specific aspects of dietary diversity that may be
beneficial or detrimental to healthy weight, it is appropriate to promote a
healthy eating pattern that emphasizes adequate intake of plant foods, protein
sources, low-fat dairy products, vegetable oils, and nuts and limits
consumption of sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages, and red meats.[ii]”
The
findings from the EAT-Lancet
Commission on Food, Planet, Health calls
for sweeping food system changes by providing the first scientific targets for
a healthy diet from a sustainable food production system that operates within
planetary boundaries for food.
Compared
with current diets, global adoption of the new recommendations by 2050 will
require global consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar to decrease by
more than 50 percent, while consumption of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes
must increase more than two-fold.
Describing
the planetary health diet as one that sustains human beings in terms of health
and wellness but also supports the environmental goal of protecting the planet,
professor K. Srinath Reddy from the Public Health Foundation of India,
expressed concern over the lack of dietary diversity in India.
“Improving
the quality of vegetarian diet to have greater diversity to include greater
protein content, greater fruit and vegetable content, that is the challenge for
India and not so much the meat part of it,” Reddy told Mongabay-India.
The
Commission states that global targets will need to be applied locally – for
example, countries in North America eat almost 6.5 times the recommended amount
of red meat, while countries in South Asia eat only half the recommended
amount.
All
countries are eating more starchy vegetables (potatoes and cassava) than
recommended with intakes ranging from between 1.5 times above the
recommendation in South Asia and by 7.5 times in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Meat
is not a major challenge for us but on the other hand the lack of dietary
diversity with adequate amount of fruit and vegetables, the lack of grain
diversity, not having enough grains, cereals and pulses is a challenge,” he
said.[iii]
Book
titled First Food: A Taste of India’s Biodiversity in 2013 said
that food is about biodiversity. We need to know how food diversity is linked
to diversity in the biological world. This book, then, is about the rediscovery
of knowledge that is not all lost. Many of the plants that make these recipes
are still found in our backyards. Or can be grown and harvested for food. It is
only when this biodiversity is lived that it will live. Yet many of the plants
are difficult to source, many difficult to grow locally. This is a challenge.
But First Food is certainly about treasuring this knowledge and creating new
knowledge, which brings culinary art to our plates. The aim is to create
cuisines that sustain nutrition, nature and livelihoods.
It
is only when we take control of our food once again that we will have good
food. It is the connection of our lives—food-nutrition-nature—that will
celebrate the joy of living.[iv]
At
the most basic level, interventions can target ingredients or types of food
(e.g., fruits and vegetables) and focus on improving the balance of nutrients
(e.g., macro- and micronutrients) by encouraging the consumption of healthy
ingredients, discouraging the consumption of unhealthy ingredients, and
promoting diet diversity through ingredient diversity. At the dish level,
interventions can target dishes and dish preparations techniques by encouraging
the consumption of healthy dishes, discouraging the consumption of unhealthy
dishes, and promoting diet diversity through dish diversity. Finally,
interventions can target the occasion level by encouraging healthy eating
behavior and discouraging unhealthy eating behavior, based on better planning
of eating occasions (e.g., “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine
like a pauper”) or introducing new occasions (e.g., healthy AM or PM snack,
based on fruits or vegetables). A shift towards planetary health diets will
require a change in general nutrition education and “local interpretation and
adaptation that reflects the culture, geography, demography of the population,
and individuals” (Willett et al., 2019b, p. 10). Through the GSR framework, the
experts provided rich contextual information on the local food culture in
eastern India, including the nutritive value of commonly consumed dishes.
Nutritionists, policy makers, and food system actors can simultaneously target
all three entry points in their nutrition intervention programs to nudge
households towards planetary health diets while preserving the rich cultural
heritage on which their gastronomic system is based.[v]
Food
needs to be grown and processed, transported, distributed, prepared, consumed,
and sometimes disposed of. Each of these steps creates greenhouse gases that
trap the sun’s heat and contribute to climate change. About a third of
all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is linked to food.
Reducing
emissions from the food sector requires changes at all stages, from producers
to consumers.
Where
appropriate, shifting food
systems towards plant-rich diets –
with more plant protein (such as beans, chickpeas, lentils, nuts, and grains),
a reduced amount of animal-based foods (meat and dairy) and less saturated fats
(butter, milk, cheese, meat, coconut oil and palm oil) – can lead to a significant
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared
to current dietary patterns in most industrialized countries.
Alternative proteins –
such as plant-based meat and dairy substitutes, insect-based proteins, and
cell-based/cultivated meat – provide promising prospects and are attracting
growing demand, financial investment and technological innovation.
But
animal products remain an important source of food security, nutrition,
livelihoods for large numbers
of rural populations around the world. Improved feeds
and feeding techniques can reduce
methane generated during cattle’s digestion as well as the amount of gases
released by decomposing manure. Smaller herd sizes, with fewer, more productive
animals can also help. And better agricultural
practices, such as improved manure and
fertilizer management, rotational grazing to maintain healthy soil to store
carbon, and the restoration of degraded lands can significantly reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
At
the same time, reducing food waste is
key. Almost 1 billion tons of food – 17 percent of all food available to
consumers worldwide – goes into trash bins every year. Producing, transporting,
and letting that food rot contribute more than 8 percent of global greenhouse
gas emissions. If food waste were
a country, it would be the third-largest emitting country in the world.
In
this regard, PVCHR-JMN has recently conducted a study on household expenditure
on the processed food items in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar under the aegis of
Global Health Advocacy Incubator. The study results show that the families in
lower income groups are spending nearly 10% of the total food expenditure on
chocolate, jellies, chips, and such other unhealthy food items. In Uttar Pradesh
this expenditure is more than 12% of the total food expenditure.
Added
to this, findings of our study show that there is not much influence of
education, social diversity, income or occupation, rural-urban locale, in terms
of expenditure on unhealthy food items. In both the states respondents were
inclined towards packed food such as kurkure, chips, takatak, toffees, candies
etc.
It
implies that there is a transition from home cooked traditional food, to
processed food even in the villages and it really compromises with the quality
nutrition and health. Our study also reveals that the main driving factors for
purchasing processed food items /packed food or simulating force for buying is
the television advertisements.
What
can you do?
Eat
healthier meals
Start
eating a more plant-rich, balanced diet –
one that provides energy and nutrients from several different food groups – and
reduce foods that are harder on our planet.
Meat
and dairy can be important sources of protein and micronutrients, particularly
in lower-income countries where diets lack diversity. But in most
high-income countries, shifting to more plant-based
foods promotes better health and
significantly lowers your environmental impact compared to the average
meat-based diet.
What
you eat is much more important than how far that food has travelled or how much
packaging it has. Transport and packaging typically account for only a small
fraction of foods’ greenhouse gas emission.
Cut
your food waste
Think
about how you buy, prepare and dispose of
food. When you throw away food, you’re also wasting the energy,
land, water, and fertilizer that was used to produce, package, and
transport it.
Only
buy what you need – and use up what you buy. And don’t shy away from
buying imperfect-looking
fruits and vegetables. They might
otherwise get thrown out.
Stop the waste,
save money, reduce emissions, and help preserve resources for future
generations.
If
you do need to throw out food, composting your
leftovers can reduce the amount of methane and CO2 released by the organic
waste.
Try
a sustainable recipe
Have
a look at these recipes by
leading chefs who are cooking up dishes that are not only delicious but also
good for you and the planet.
Shop
with a reusable bag
The
production, use and disposal of plastics contribute
to climate change. Instead of a plastic bag, use your own reusable bag and
reduce the amount of plastic waste in
our world.[vi]
Now,
I want to bring to your kind attention that Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
are the major cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. As per World
Health Organization estimate, about 71 % i.e., 41 million deaths each year
globally are due to high incidences of NCDs. Excess consumption of unhealthy
diets laced with high saturated fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) are often triggered,
along with sedentary lifestyle, high incidence of obesity which, in turn,
increase the risk of cardio-vascular diseases like heart disease, stroke, Type
2 diabetes and even cancer leading to premature death. Almost three quarters of
all NCD deaths and 82% of the 16 million premature deaths occur in
low- and middle-income countries including India.
Indian
children are particularly at high risk as double burden of malnutrition and
unhealthy nutrition. Around 15 million Indian children are obese which is the
largest number of obese children after China. On average, 15 % of Indian
children are facing some form of overweight which is primarily caused by
over-consumption of unhealthy & unregulated ultra-processed package food
which are high in salt, sugar and saturated fat. A study conducted by Lancet
Commission on comparison of Indian Diet, found out that Ultra-processed package
food accounts for nearly 10% of the average total caloric intake in both rural
and urban India. Urban households in high economic affluence consume almost 30%
of their total daily calories from processed food.
The
National Family Health Survey 2019-21 (NFHS-5), the fifth in the NFHS series,
discloses that obesity among children has increased 60 % in the last five
years. Situation in rural areas is also alarming. Among the adult population
also, between the age group of 15 to 49 years, obesity is an upward trend
across all states with around 25 % of the male and women population are
overweight.
NFHS-5,
for the first time, also collected data around prevalence of diabetes and
hypertension among the adult population above 15 years of age. The survey shows
that incidence of diabetes among the adult population over the age of 15 is
significantly high, 30 % prevalence among men and 25 % among women and found
that 30 % male and 25 % female are diabetic. Similarly, more than 45 % men and
around 39 % women over age of 15 are having high blood pressure or patient of
hypertension. This high incidences of diabetes and hypertension among adult population
is across all states and covers both urban and rural areas.
India
is one of the global leaders in the food and beverage industry. India is one of
the top five markets for processed packaged food in the world and the second
largest market in Asia, with 47 million tons in sales even before pre-covid
stage in 2020. Indian processed food market is expected to become third largest
market in the world after United States and China in couple of years.
The
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has issued a draft notification on
front-of-package labelling, which proposes “Indian Nutrition Rating” (INR)
modelled on the health star-rating system. The ratings may vary from 1/2 stars,
which would be considered least healthy, to 5 stars which would be considered
the healthiest. This star rating will not indicate that the product contains
more salt, sugar or fat than the standard. Good rating can be taken by
increasing protein and fibre even in harmful food.
Honourable
Ministers, many Members of Parliament, political parties, health experts,
mothers, parents, civil societies, think – tank, sadhu saint, Intellectual
group sent their comment on the draft regulation in the given time. Shri B.P
Saroj, Member of Parliament, Consultative Committee on Food Processing and Mr.
Ashutosh Sinha, Member, Legislative Council received response from honourable
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare.
Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India, Ministry of Home and Family Welfare
passed a notification on 4th September, 2021 which called as The Food Safety
and Standards (Safe food and healthy diet for school children) Regulation 2019.
I appeal to state Governments in India to implement it immediately and save lives
of children from NCDs.
There
is also a fact that people also connect to their cultural or ethnic group
through food patterns. Food is often used as a means of retaining their
cultural identity. People from different cultural backgrounds eat different
foods. The areas in which families live and where their ancestors originated
influence food like and dislikes. These food preferences result in patterns of
food choices within a cultural or regional group.
In
religion, food is one of the most important parts of religious ceremonies.
Ayurveda described good, healthy and diverse foods is one of key foundations
of healthy life. Satvik, Rajsik and Tamsik foods
are described by Charak Sanhita. The
role of food in religious culture is an important part of showing respect among
their communities and many of these religions obey the religious commandments,
hence food is prepared in different ways. The meaning of food is an exploration
of culture through food. What we consume, how we acquire it, who prepares it,
who’s at the table, and who eats first is a form of communication that is, it
has a rich cultural base. Beyond merely nourishing the body, what we eat and
with whom we eat can inspire and strengthen the bonds between individuals,
communities, and even countries. There is no closer relationship than the one
with the family and food plays a large part in defining family roles, rules,
and traditions. It helps us to discover attitudes, practices, and rituals
surrounding food, it sheds light on our most basic beliefs about ourselves and
others. There is a relationship between culture and food. This negotiates our
identities, cultures and environments. Understanding
culture, habits, rituals and tradition can be explored through food and the way
others perceive it.
Food
habits are one of the most complex aspects of human behavior, being determined by
multiple motives and directed and controlled by multiple stimuli. Food
acceptance is a complex reaction influenced by biochemical, physiological,
psychological, social and educational factors. Metabolic conditions play an
important role. Age, sex and mental state are factors of importance. People
differ greatly in their sensory response to foods. The likes and dislikes of
the individual with respect to food move in a framework of race, tradition,
economic status and environmental conditions1.
For
most people food is cultural, not nutritional. A plant or animal may be
considered edible in one society and inedible in another. Probably one of the
most important things to remember in connection with the cultural factors
involved in food habits is that there are many combinations of food which will
give same nutritional results.
Culture
consists of values, attitudes, habits and customs, acquired by learning which
starts with the earliest experiences of childhood, much of which is not
deliberately taught by anyone and which so thoroughly internalized that it is
unconscious but ‘goes deep’ (Fathauer.G.H,1960)2. Food habits are
among the oldest and most deeply entrenched aspects of many cultures and
cannot, therefore, be easily changed, or if forcibly changed, can produce a
series of unexpected and unwelcome reactions. Food and food habits as a basic
part of culture serve as a focus of emotional association, a channel of love,
discrimination and disapproval and usually have symbolic references. The
sharing of food symbolizes a high degree of social intimacy and acceptance.[vii]
[i] Founder and CEO,
Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR0and JanMitra Nyas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin_Raghuvanshi
Brochure by FOPL PVCHR on Scribd
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