Trends and patterns in consumption of foods among Indian adults: Insights from National Family Health Surveys, 2005-06 to 2019- 21

Sharvari Patwardhan, Rati Kapoor, Samuel Scott, Phuong Hong Nguyen, Sylvie Chamois, S.K. Singh, L.K. Dwivedi, Sarang Pedgaonkar, Paul Puri, Alka Chauhan, Avula Laxmaiah and Purnima Menon

No 91, POSHAN data notes from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: BACKGROUND| Healthy diets are necessary for optimal growth and to carry out daily mental and physical tasks. Unhealthy diets drive all forms of malnutritionand dietary risks are the number one risk factor globally for deaths and disability (Global Burden of Disease collaborators, 2019). Given the importance of diet as a key driver of health and wellbeing, this Data Note examines available data from three rounds of India’s National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) on food consumption patterns of adult men and women. MEASUREMENT| NFHS asks women (15-49 years) and men (15-54 years) how frequently (daily, weekly, occasionally or never) they consume nine food groups including two unhealthy food groups (Figure 1). The 2020 Nutrient Requirements for Indiansoutlines the quantity per day of vegetarian foods to be consumed as part of a balanced diet (ICMR-NIN, 2020). The guidelines indicate that pulses can be replaced with animal-source foods for non-vegetarians. Thus, for this Data Note we constructed an additional indicator –daily consumption of pulses or egg or fish or chicken or meat –to estimate any protein consumption (Figure 1). Estimates are first presented at the national levelto provide an overall view of how diets have changed from 2005-06 to 2019-21. On subsequent pages, we show trends between 2015-16 and 2019-21 by stateand district. USE| This data note provides a broad view of diet patterns among adults and should be used for further inquiry by stakeholders including researchers, policymakers, and program staff at multiple levels. We recognize that NFHS is not a detailed dietary survey and does not ask about individual food items or the quantity of food consumed. Thus, this data note should be used as a starting point for discussion and to identify major areas of improvement in consumption and measurement.

Keywords: data; data analysis; death; diet; food consumption; growth; health; malnutrition; policies; protein content; risk factors; surveys; India; Southern Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127093

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:poshdn:91

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in POSHAN data notes from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().