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Calorie rich: Fast food is often eaten as snacks and not as meals, thus adding to the calorie intake.

This was not so a generation ago. Policies (or lack of them) of successive governments, central and state, have contributed to this two-headed monster of problems.

On one side, millions suffer from actual hunger as well as what Professor Swaminathan terms as hidden hunger. The latter arises from lack of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals in whatever food they get to eat.

The deliberate disbanding of the public distribution system by the governments, their staff and middlemen is a major culprit here.

The Prime Minister’s recent statement that subsidies must go is particularly aggravating in this connection. Every nation that cares for its people subsidises nutrition and health, education and welfare. We should not give these up.

This is one head of the monster. The other head rises when we realise that tens of millions of Indians are killing themselves by eating high calorie, high fat dishes that go by the name fast food. (Actually, it is better to call it junk food, rather than fast food at least in India. It does not come any faster than the traditional idli, vada, dosa, samosa, pakoda or chat in our shops and stalls; indeed it comes slower).

One report says that over 23 per cent of the children in Delhi are obese. One hopes that this estimate is not true; if it is, one shudders to think of the numbers in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Gurgaon and other nouveau riche cities with their fast pervading mall culture and fast food attractions.

A person is deemed overweight if his/her body mass index or BMI (weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in metres) is over 25 and obese if it exceeds 30.

Here is a typical scene from one such mall in Hyderabad. It has a 4-movie multiplex theatre, surrounded by 40-odd fast food kiosks and 20-odd shops that sell clothing, perfumes and jewellery, music and video CDs and DVDs and the like.

Not one of them sells traditional Indian meals or snacks. And the mall, like 20 others in the city, is filled with thousands of youngsters who obviously have enough to spend.

We did not have such scenes in India twenty years ago, but this mall and fast food culture is expanding explosively across India. This too is part of the globalisation of India, a part that causes great concern about the health of its citizens.

The research firm Synovate recently surveyed 13 countries on their food habits and health, particularly fast food culture and obesity.

The results reveal that the number one fast food nation in the world is the United Kingdom. About 45 per cent of the people there are fast food eaters, and say “I like the taste of fast food too much to give it up.”

Next come the Americans, with 44 and Canadians with 37 per cent. At the other end of the scale are the French. A full 81 per cent of them reject fast food, as do 71 per cent of Singaporeans. These two countries too are globalised, developed nations, and yet their people reject fast food.

The so-called French Paradox of why metabolic disorders and diseases are the least, among Western nations, in France is answered in part by this statistic. Less than 30 per cent of French are overweight, and less than 24 per cent in Singapore.

The number in China is about 18 per cent. We had 15 per cent of Indians obese, not just overweight, in 1980; it jumped to 27 per cent in 2000. Where would urban India, the one that promotes, and prides itself on, globalisation, like to be? With U.K. and U.S., or France, China and Singapore? The choice is ours.

What is fast food, or junk food? Invariably it is a burger, pizza, fries, cola drinks and the lot. Each of these adds to the calories and fat intake.

A hamburger with toppings yields 300 calories (cal) and 10 grams (g) total fat. A slice of pepperoni pizza has 180 cal and 7 g fat.

A 12-oz (340 ml) can of Coca Cola yields 155 cal, and a small portion of McDonald’s French fries has 210 cal, and as much as 15g total fat (and the bad ones, the trans fats, form 4g of this amount).

More often than not, these are eaten as snacks and not as meals, and thus add to the calorie and fat content- contributing to obesity and associated ill health.

Compare these with Indian snacks and ‘tiffin’. One midsize idli offers 70 cal and 0.2 grams fat, a sada dosa 140 cal and 5 grams fat (hence a set dosa or steamed dosa is better), and a samosa packs 370 cal and 18 grams fat (matching a pizza slice or a plate of fries).

A glass of lassi (200 g) gives you 140 cal and 2 grams fat (only if it is not ‘malai dal ke’). In the list of fattening dishes of India, korma and biryani stand on top, while ‘tikka’ items cooked in dry oven are low fat.

This comparison is not to say: “avoid burger and fries, and eat only idli vada,” but to request to use moderation and caution.

It is best to remember that an average person needs 2000 cal per day, no more than 60 grams fat in it, about 60-70 grams protein, 300 grams carbohydrate, and enough greens and vegetables to provide for all micronutrients. Anything above 2400 cal per day, for a reasonably active person, would add to weight.

The National Institute of Nutrition at Hyderabad sells a well-researched book called ‘Nutritive value of Indian Foods.’

It tells us why and how we should mix and match our daily diet with ‘coarse’ grains (such as bajra, jowar and barley) with fine ones (wheat and rice), greens and beans, low fat oil, kinds of snacks and so forth.

For a mere Rs. 35, this is one of the best buys you could have.

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