Young Indians are falling considerably short of the daily intake of fruits and vegetables as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a significant research has revealed.
People below the age of 35 are consuming
only 3.3 servings while the WHO recommends five servings of fruits of
vegetables in a day, revealed the Indian Council for Research on
International Economic Relations (ICRIER) survey.
“It was found that young Indians are
more prone towards consuming fast food, which is easily available and,
according to them, are tastier than home cooked food,” said Arpita
Mukherjee, a professor at ICRIER, New Delhi.
“The youngsters prefer processed and
packaged foods which are faster to prepare and easily available. The
young students and those working blamed staying away from home, busy
schedule and work pressure the reasons for the diet shortfall,” she said
in a statement.
The primary survey covered 1,001 respondents from Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR.
The WHO panel on diet, nutrition and
prevention of chronic diseases recommends a daily intake of at least 400
grams (or five daily servings with an average serving size of 80 gm) of
fruits and vegetables.
It excluded potatoes, cassava and other starchy tubers to prevent diet-related chronic diseases and micro-nutrient deficiencies.
“While the average for all Indian upper
and middle class consumers is 3.5 daily servings – which implies that
they are falling short of the WHO recommendations, for those below the
age of 35, it is further lower at 3.3 servings,” the survey findings
noted.
“The youngsters argue that in India,
there are limited options for cut and packed fruits and processed
vegetables – which are ready to eat,” Mukherjee added.
Apart from juices and certain processed
vegetables like peas, there are hardly any processing fruits like lichee
or different types of berries.
According to Souvik Dutta, assistant
professor at IIM Bangalore, young Indians are aware that there are
issues related to the presence of pesticides in fruits and vegetables
which stops them from eating those raw.
Some survey respondents also pointed out
that they are aware that daily intake of the five servings of fruits
and vegetables reduced the risk of stroke and other diseases.
“They are also aware that fresh fruits and vegetables are better than processed food,” Dutta noted.
Conducted in association with the
independent Spectrum Research Group and Amway Opportunity Foundation,
the survey aimed to understand the “actual” fruits and vegetables
consumption patterns in India and compare this to the WHO “recommended”
quantity for an adult.
Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs
