Awareness: Key to Wellness

Very soon, boards displaying the recommended daily intake of “oil, sugar, and salt” will be installed in all educational institutions across Coimbatore district. The Food Safety Department of Tamil Nadu has reportedly decided to put up the boards developed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) in an attempt to educate students about the importance of healthier food choices as well as the ill-effects of high fat, sugar and salt intake. This initiative came close on the heels of the Union Health Ministry’s advisory to display oil and sugar boards in various workplaces such as lobbies, canteens, cafeterias, meeting rooms, etc., to raise awareness on harmful consumption of hidden fats and excess sugar in various food items. It said “these boards are meant to serve as daily reminders on fighting obesity, the burden of which is sharply rising in the country”. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) also issued a similar directive in May this year, asking all its affiliated schools to install "sugar boards". This campaign has been fervently supported by the FSSAI and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

The health campaign, which also aligns with global nutrition goals, is a welcome initiative, a move in the right direction towards arresting the ever-increasing cases of obesity among children, which has become a silent epidemic in the country. It is also a commendable step towards curbing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and other lifestyle-related illnesses, which kill lakhs of people prematurely every year and affect the economy of affected families as well as the country. The concerned authorities and FSSAI cannot dictate the food choices of individuals or outright ban certain food items unless food safety standards are found to be compromised but can surely carry out aggressive awareness programmes about health risks associated with excessive consumption of not just food items containing high fat, sugar and salt but also other unhealthy food like soft drinks and junk food. Citizens should be empowered to make healthier food choices. They should be made aware of the fact that a healthy lifestyle, which encompasses physical activity and sleep, is intertwined with quality of life. This message should reach everyone because what we eat and drink daily determines our overall health and well-being, physical and mental. And they say ‘health is wealth’.