Diets, malnutrition, and disease in India: An Overview

Abstract

This chapter is an overview of different themes related to diets, malnutrition and non-communicable diseases in India. These include why calorie intake declined across different expenditure classes during 1993�2004; whether dietary diversification was associated with a reduction in calorie intake; what the factors are associated with eating out and its likely nutritional implications; whether a calorie share of the staples threshold could replace conventional calorie norms; whether poverty nutrition traps exist; whether child malnutrition is underestimated; links between aging, growing affluence, obesity and non-communicable diseases; why PDS has failed to fulfil its potential in terms of food security and a critique of the universal food subsidy enacted recently; and a policy perspective reflecting lessons from India and elsewhere and health policy challenges.