Falling protein intake of rural Indians should be of greater concern rather than declining calorie consumption or rising fat content in urban diets, say nutrition experts and economists.
According to the latest National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) consumption data collected over 2004-05, except for a few coastal states where fish is the staple source of protein and that have bucked the trend, almost all the 15 states that were surveyed, and especially the northern ones, have shown a fall in calorie as well as protein intake in rural areas, especially since 2000-01.
This is being attributed to the existing agriculture and food security policies, which have emphasized cultivation of rice and wheat to the exclusion of coarse grains and pulses which traditionally have been the primary source of protein for the rural poor.
“There’s much to be said about our traditional knowledge base and food habits that favoured coarse grains and pulses, which are all based on scientific principles and local supply,” said Pronab Sen, secretary in the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, which looks after the NSSO.
“Both pulses and coarse grains were neglected by the green revolution, which by its very nature encouraged intensive cultivation of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties. This, along with subsidized seeds and the guaranteed purchases, encouraged a decline in sowing of pulses, which is a short-duration intercropping plant, as well as of coarse grains, which were being cropped more for own use,” Sen added.
Production of pulses has stagnated at the level of 14 million tonnes over the last decade and more.
According to Ishi Khosla, an independent nutrition expert, protein deficiency can lead to general health problems that range from indigestion and fatigue to physiological changes in skin and hair texture and a decline in immunity.
“All hormones and enzymes, for instance, are protein-based, so the implications of deficiency can be serious,” said Khosla. “Absolute deficiency of protein can also mean an excessive intake of carbohydrates, which leads to general degeneration accompanied with obesity, heart illnesses and even diabetes in more serious cases.”
Prema Ramachandran, director, Nutrition Foundation of India (NFI), a Delhi-based non-government scientific research institution, believes that the decline in calorie consumption has been an established trend for awhile.
Quoting an NFI paper prepared for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, she says that the reported monthly per head “consumption” of cereals in high-income households in rural areas in 1972-73 was about 26.2kg, or about 1kg a day, which declined to 14.4kg in 1999-2000, or about 0.5kg.
Ramchandran believes that policymakers need to be more concerned about the decline in rural protein intake and the rise in urban fat intake.
“From the calorie capital of the world, we are now getting to be the fat capital,” she says.