Most stunted under-5 children in UP, high BP cases in Kerala

NEWDELHI: Children between five and 13 years are the most undernourished in India, a study by the country’s premier National Institute of Nutrition revealed.

The Urban Nutrition Data research study, which was carried out between 2015 and 2016 in 16 states, found that prevalence of undernutrition (thinness) was significantly higher in boys aged between 14-17 years as compared to girls of the same age group.

The prevalence of stunting among urban, under-5 children was highest in the states of Uttar Pradesh (40.8%), followed by Maharashtra (36.4%), New Delhi (35.7%) and West Bengal (34.4%).

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) released the report titled ‘Diet and Nutritional Status of Urban Population in India and Prevalence of Obesity, Hypertension, Diabetes and Hyperlipidaemia in Urban men and women’ on Tuesday.

Hypertension among urban men and women was found to be 31% and 26%.

Kerala has the maximum hypertensive people (31 to 39%) and Bihar with 16% to 22% has the lowest prevalence of hypertension.

Puducherry has the most number of diabetics — 41.2% men and 36.6% women, followed by New Delhi with 36.4% men and 33.5% women.

Kerala is a close third with 32.9% men and 26.5% women suffering from diabetes.

Major causes for the increase in cases of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are being attributed to nutrition transition that is a change in the food habits, sedentary behaviour and unhealthy lifestyles and other high risk behaviours.

About 2.6 million Indians are predicted to die of coronary heart disease (CHD) that constitutes a whopping 54.1% of all cardio vascular disease (CVD) deaths in India by 2020.

In addition, CHD in Indians has been shown to occur prematurely, that is, at least a decade or two earlier as compared to those reported from developed countries.

Hypertension is an important risk factor for CVD alongside overweight and obesity and is a major public health concern in developing countries around the world.

A total of 1.72 lakh people from 52,577 households were spoken to for the study with an objective to assess ‘diet and nutritional status of urban population and the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia among the urban people’.