“Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true,” insightfully opined celebrated British economist Prof. Joan Robinson (1903-83). Even as the country tops the list of nations with pervasive malnutrition and child-wasting (18.7 percent), 21st century India also hosts the world’s second largest number of obese children. According to some media pundits, this cruel irony of the largest child and youth population (500 million) has become more pronounced over the past three decades after India liberalised and deregulated its limping economy in 1991. Since then rapid growth and prosperity of the new middle class has prompted an alarming increase in child (and adult) obesity in urban India, even as in the rural hinterland, poor children are wasting away. Recently, answering a question in the Lok Sabha, Union women and child development minister Annapurna Devi admitted that 50 percent of children under five years suffer chronic malnutrition.
Paradoxically, a recent (March 4) report published in the highly respected international medical journal Lancet to mark World Obesity Day warns that India is fast emerging as the epicentre of childhood obesity. The ‘Global Burden of Disease Study BMI Collaborations’ estimates that 12.5 million children (7.3 million boys and 5.2 million girls) aged between five-19 years in India are grossly overweight, cf. 0.4 million in 1990. This sharp increase in childhood obesity is attributed to unhealthy dietary regimes, unchecked consumption of junk food, sedentary lifestyles, lack of outdoor physical activity and tech addiction among middle class children. The study predicts that by 2050, India will host the second highest number of obese children in the five-14 years age group (30 million) and the highest number of obese young people in the 15-24 age group (39.6 million).
Against this alarming backdrop, in this issue we examine the causes and effects of rising child obesity and how parents can enable children to combat this epidemic which is the precursor of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cardiac problems and liver dysfunction. The consensus among healthcare experts is that parents urgently need to encourage healthy food habits, physical activity, sports and fitness regimes and restrict children’s digital screen time.
Cover story apart, this issue is packed with information and insights-rich parenting advice. Check out our Middle Years story highlighting the outsize impact of pervasive advertising on vulnerable children and teens and how parents can educate children about the role and impact of advertising on purchase decisions and health and well-being. Also, recommended is our Health essay in which Dr. Neeraj Gupta, pediatric allergy specialist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi, shares valuable information about common allergies likely to impact children in the long hot summer ahead.
