Oils, fats and the obesity challenge
In his recent ‘Mann ki Baat’ broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted a major public health challenge — excess weight or obesity. It is one of the risk factors for the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The PM said the country could address the challenge of obesity with minor efforts like reducing the consumption of edible oil. He said, “You should decide that you will use 10 per cent less oil every month… This will be an important step towards reducing obesity.”
Using less oil in food and dealing with obesity is not just a personal choice but also one’s responsibility towards the family, he added. The PM then launched a public campaign on his social media handles, challenging 10 public figures to reduce oil in their food by 10 per cent and urging them to pass on the challenge to another 10 people. He hoped that this would help a lot in fighting obesity.
A public health message from the PM is important for raising awareness about NCDs and oil consumption, but it is only one part of the story.
The elephant in the room is excessive consumption of fats, mainly trans fatty acid or trans fats, that are considered one of the risk factors for a range of NCDs. Among the sources of trans fats are dairy products, ghee, meats and vanaspati. A higher intake of other fats is also harmful. The proportion of saturated fats is the highest in coconut oil, ghee and palmolein oil, according to the dietary guidelines issued by the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. Reducing the consumption of visible fats — oils added to the food while cooking or dressing — as suggested by the PM is only half a step. We consume trans fats through processed food, fast food, fried snacks, cookies, etc. Sources of saturated and unsaturated fats, too, vary and include edible oils, among others. For a public health impact, cutting the intake of not just oils but ghee and vanaspati as well as ultra-processed packaged food and dairy products is necessary. The campaign on obesity should be extended to unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles.
By asking people to voluntarily cut edible oil consumption by 10 per cent, the Prime Minister has put the onus of tackling obesity and NCD epidemics on individuals. This goes against the public health wisdom gathered over decades which says that adopting healthy dietary habits is both an individual as well as a societal responsibility. It is the duty of the government to come up with policies to build environments that enable and encourage people to consume a healthy diet, including low levels of fat. One can’t expect people to start having a healthy diet and adopt a healthy lifestyle in an environment that promotes obesity — what scientists call an obesogenic environment. It is shaped by public policies and does not offer healthy choices for communities.
We need a population-wide and multisectoral policy approach to tackle obesity and NCDs, along with individual actions. For instance, India heavily depends on edible oil imports, and public policies encourage the import of palm oil. It accounts for nearly 60 per cent of all imported oils. Palm oil is the darling of the processed food industry, even though several studies have linked its consumption with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The public policies governing the production and import of edible oils should be designed in such a way that they provide people with a basket of less harmful edible oils.
Over the past few decades, dietary habits have changed in India with rising incomes, urbanisation and increased globalisation of food products — resulting in the popularity of ultra-processed foods high in salt, sugar and fats. These products have changed the food ecology. Junk food is available everywhere — neighbourhoods, school canteens, offices, hospitals, cinema halls, slums, villages. Policies have contributed to this change in a big way. Governments provide subsidies to processed food companies making chips, colas, cookies, namkeen and so on (not to be confused with subsidies for agro-based industries). Food companies are incentivised even for the branding of junk food products.
The availability of fresh fruits and vegetables at affordable prices should be encouraged since it is a healthy choice, but policies incentivise companies that process fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, any measure to regulate junk food, such as explicit health warnings or a ban on marketing directed at children is stalled by food regulators at the behest of the industry. Ironically, the food safety authority has been running an ‘Eat Right’ campaign for a few years in partnership with leading junk food companies. Instead of garnering support for harsher regulation on junk food, as advocated by public health and consumer experts, the food safety regulator partners with those it is supposed to regulate. In 2019, the regulator launched an initiative — ‘India@75: Freedom from Trans Fats’ — to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the food chain by 2022. The goal remains unattained, thanks to stiff opposition from the junk food industry.
The same is the story with sedentary lifestyles and physical inactivity, often cited among the key drivers of obesity, along with unhealthy foods. While remaining physically active and doing exercise are matters of personal choice, public policies play a vital role in creating active environments that promote physical fitness at the community level. For instance, providing public places conducive to walking and exercise goes a long way in encouraging physical activity. Public transport, dedicated pavements for pedestrians and cycling paths are all known to discourage the use of cars. These are all matters of public policies that shape individual choices. Individual actions like reducing edible oil consumption are a cog in the obesity wheel, but this should not divert our attention from the need for conducive public policies in multiple sectors.
