HYDERABAD: The Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) on Tuesday unveiled a comprehensive policy roadmap aimed at improving the diets of children and adolescents by creating healthier food environments across India.
The recommendations seek to tackle the growing burden of childhood obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases through evidence-based policy interventions, nutrition education and stronger regulation of unhealthy foods.
Released under the Let’s Fix Our Food (LFOF) Consortium, titled ‘Priority Policy Actions to Promote Healthier Diets and Food Environments for Children and Adolescents in India’, outlines a series of measures designed to encourage healthier eating habits while making nutritious food choices more accessible and informed.
According to ICMR-NIN, the recommendations are the outcome of nearly three years of multidisciplinary research, stakeholder consultations and policy discussions. It identifies priority areas including healthier school food environments, front-of-pack nutrition labelling, regulation of marketing of unhealthy foods to children, taxation of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS), promotion of healthier dietary fats, salt reduction strategies, low-sodium salt substitutes, nutrition literacy, behaviour change communication and youth engagement.
Officials said the proposed measures would help children make healthier food choices, improve nutrition awareness, reduce consumption of processed foods rich in fat, sugar and salt, and ultimately lower the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
ICMR-NIN director Dr Bharati Kulkarni described the recommendations as the collective effort of researchers, policy makers, development partners and young people working towards healthier food environments for future generations.
The workshop also marked the launch of several knowledge products developed under the consortium, including the LFOF website, the Nutrition Environment Assessment Toolkit for Schools (NEAT-S) and its assessment report.