(National Nutrition Week is observed in India from September 1-7 to increase awareness generation on the importance of nutrition for health which has an impact on development, productivity and economic growth of the country. FIT is republishing this story from its archives.)
People have always sniggered at the United States saying, “oh Americans eat junk, they’re all so fat.” Well guess what, India now has more obese children than the US (or any country except China).
The situation becomes disturbing when you juxtapose these numbers with the problem of undernutrition in India. The two extremes have now become almost equally prevalent.
While the number of undernourished people has gone down by one-third in the last 10 years, India still has more underweight and stunted children that any other country. One reason for India being ahead of all the poorer African nations, is its high population.