From September 1 – 7, India, in pursuance of the resolution of the WHO .celebrated the Nutrition Week in the country. The purpose is that a mission of providing nutritious diet to new born babies and the kids be ensured to reduce their mortality in infant and early age. This is a pious mission and India has been doing her bit and has even some achievement to her credit. But the Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research Dr B Sesikeran, an authority on the subject, opines that India needs to do much more to be really among the countries whose level of providing nutritious food to children is satisfactory. Dr. Sesikeran is of the opinion that owing to food habits of Indians, they tend to gain fat and weight although they should reduce the intake of calories. Urbanization is also one of the reasons why Indians are gaining in fat because they do not do much of physical work that burns the calorie and help them maintain normal health. Severe forms of micro nutrient deficiency like Vitamin A deficiency, Iodine deficiency have significantly decreased though Iron deficiency and now Folic Acid, B12 and Vitamin D deficiencies still exist. Low birth weight incidence has come down significantly in some southern states while some northern states still have a high incidence. World Health Organization (WHO) has said in a recent report that 2.5 million children in India die every single year owing to malnutrition. China has only seven per cent of its children fewer than five years underweight, India has alarmingly high at 42.5 per cent. These figures suggest that India has to tackle this issue seriously if she wants that her future generations should grow as healthy people.
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