Junk Food: Indians Are Biting Harder into the Lifestyle Diseases Bullet

But let’s set aside the Maggi string length debate, for a gigantic food choice problem confronting our nation. We are replete with people having no time for culinary effort and enough disposable income to walk the quick-fix path to hunger satiation – junk foods.

For the average Indian, especially those in the 20-35 years age group, nothing is better than the convenience and pleasure of chomping into a juicy burger or a cheesy pizza, even though each home delivery comes with free lifestyle diseases in tow.

Worldwide, many are moving away from junk foods and abstaining, but Indians are heartily eating the bullet that can kill.

A 2019 Lancet study placed India second in fatalities, next only to China, due to poor diet choices. India fared lower than even the “very unhealthy” US in food intake, consuming few or no vegetables and fruits.

In 2023, four years later, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) warned that the situation was worsening, with “poor and junk food” intake causing 4.2 lakh deaths, apart from 6 crore infections.

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) recently shared estimates that are more alarming, with 56.4 per cent of the total disease burden in the country are due to unhealthy diet choices.

What constitutes ‘unhealthy’? It is deep-fried, oil-rich street food, sugary drinks and flavoured sodas, high sweets and savouries intake, instant noodles, and fast foods such as burgers and pizzas – India’s usual suspects that make a nation smile.

A Delicious Dance Of Unhealthy Indulgence

If eating out or ordering in be so deadly, with ramifications including death by indulgence, why are Indians queueing up for a date with such a choice? It boils down to a faster lifestyle, with single-tap mobile apps and quick delivery start-ups being the new cooks of unhealthy dishes and broth.

It is not just a case of India aping the West, whose burger and pizza chains are rushing to the subcontinent, despite many being shoved out of the culinary lineup by desi competition. Mind you, that same West is turning against its own eating habits of the last century.

A recent University of Melbourne study  revealed that Governments worldwide are getting increasingly wary of unhealthy eating, especially among kids and youngsters. For instance, the Australian Government investigated whether it should ban unhealthy food advertising online and how this could pan out with packaged food giants.

The UK has gone a step further, proposing a ban on unhealthy food and drink advertising online from October 2025.

The study found unhealthy food and drinks were being promoted in ways designed to appeal to parents and carers of children, as also children themselves. Additionally, young men were being targeted by fast-food ads.

The study found that the most frequent online advertisers are KFC (981 ads), McDonald’s (530 ads) and Cadbury (464 ads). The parentheses represent the number of ads out of 141 observed advertisers and 5,995 posted ads.

What Price Economic Progress?

In India, the change in eating habits has coincided with economic progress and urban living, stoking up a surge in the consumption of “packaged and processed foods”, more respectably known as ‘junk food’. India’s new-gen is mocking the old, which used to consume natural fibres, proteins and whole foods.

Today’s food is ‘happy’, being nutritionally low in vitamins, minerals and fibre; and high in calories, fats, salt, sugar and preservatives. Hence, ‘happy’.

It is not a surprise that India is experiencing an explosion of lifestyle diseases, with unhealthy diets being the largest contributing factor.

To put this in perspective, an ICMR study showed worrisome prevalence of metabolic disorders, with 11 per cent of the youth tested showing signs of diabetes, 35 per cent having hypertension and 40 per cent being clinically obese.

Junk food consumed by youngsters and others, is equally overweight. According to the India Quick Service Restaurant Market Analysis, the overall market size is estimated at US $25.46 billion (Rs 2,13,864 crore) in 2024, projected to reach a whopping US $38.71 billion (Rs 3,25,164 crore) by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 8.74 per cent.

Households Burping Out Super-Profits

The Indian Government’s Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, 2023 showed that the top 5 per cent of urban households spent Rs 538 per month per head on packaged and processed food items.

If we look at Nestle India, the parent of Maggi and other ready-to-eat packaged food items (also the company to transparently share trends), the share of ‘Prepared Dishes & Cooking Aids’ rose from 26.7 per cent in 2017 to 30.4 per cent in 2023, a cumulative jump of 15 per cent over the last six years.

As for the packaged foodstuffs India consumes when on the move, biscuits top the charts (Rs 35 per head per month), followed by ‘namkeen’ (Rs 23), chips and wafers (Rs 20), chocolates (Rs 15), instant noodles (Rs 15) and breads (Rs 15).

State-wise, Assam and Punjab are the heavy gorgers, spending Rs 42.4 per head per month in urban areas, while Tamil Nadu leads in rural consumption of packaged foods.

For those shaking their heads in dismay over the foodstuffs listed above, I admit that I have not even scratched the happy Indian tummy, the body part that frequently growls for kebabs and tikkas, kathi rolls, samosas and tikkis, pao bhaji and chhole bhature, masala dosa and vada, dal makhani and butter chicken, and so much more.

A nation that boasted of being amongst the world’s fittest and scrawniest is now walking the path to becoming unhealthy and infirm, to the extent of falling prey to ailments that were unheard of but a few decades back.

Yes, the slurp and satisfied burp are fine. But no, the belch and ungainly squelch are not.