Eating right for a healthy nation

India has about 10.1 crore people with diabetes, according to a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research and India Diabetes. Building awareness about the disease and promoting a healthy lifestyle, including healthy eating, are some of the key focus areas of preventive measures initiated by the central and state governments. The apex food regulator of the country, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has recommended mandatory, informative labelling of high-fat, salt, and sugar in packaged foods to prevent obesity and diabetes. The FSSAI’s Eat Right Campaign lays emphasis on high-fibre, low-glycemic index foods for the management of pre-diabetes. It is heartening to know that a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, has developed a Glycemic Index (GI) sensor device that can determine the GI of different food sources in real-time. The availability and affordability of the sensor will be crucial to improving the food management of diabetic patients and preventing the development of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancer. The official release issued by the IIT explains: “The Glycemic Index, or GI, is a measure that ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on how they affect blood sugar levels when consumed. High-GI foods can cause a rapid spike in blood glucose levels, followed by a swift decline. Moreover, these high-GI foods stimulate an increased demand for insulin, contributing to the risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Importantly, low-GI food helps to prevent diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer.” The IIT Guwahati Research Team, headed by Prof. Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, Department of Chemical Engineering, has published the research findings in the journal Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering of the American Chemical Society. Researchers Prathu Raja Parmar, Jiwajyoti Mahanta, Saurabh Dubey, Tapas Kumar Mandal, and Prof. Dipankar Bandyopadhyay are the co-authors. They have claimed that the point-of-care-testing prototype developed by the team can detect the GI of common food sources in approximately five minutes. The PURPLE (People’s User-Friendly Resource for Practicing and Learning to Eat) Book of FSSAI, which is a handbook of diets for diseases, highlights that lifestyle modification plays an important role in the prevention and management of diabetes and its complications. It cautions that poor glycemic control would lead to micro- and macro-vascular complications such as diabetic neuropathy, cardiomyopathy, neuropathy, foot amputation, etc. The handbook lists foods that are to be included in diets and those to be excluded from diets for diabetes prevention and management and is handy for diabetic patients to overcome confusion over deciding the daily diet to stay healthy. Eating fast food, junk food, and processed food is one of the factors in developing diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease. Dining habits have undergone tremendous transformation in the country with the rapid expansion of services by food aggregators and food delivery apps driven by the spread of digital technology. Home-cooked food is replaced with restaurant food, which is packaged and processed and delivered at home through an online order. The idea of balanced food, which was ensured in traditional home-made foods that are suitable for local climatic conditions and ecosystems, is fast evaporating for many, except for health-conscious people, due to the comfort of getting foods delivered at home and the wider availability of packaged and processed foods as they step outside. Gradual reduction of fat, salt, and sugar as recommended by ICMR, FSSAI, and health experts is not possible if the campaign to eat right and PURPLE book content fail to reach those addicted to new dining habits. The use of the device for determining the GI of different foods developed by the IIT team, assuming that it would be available on a commercial scale, will depend on the level of awareness among people about diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and various risk factors associated with food habits. One of the key recommendations in the FSSAI handbook for those with pre-diabetes is to modify their diet based on socio-economic conditions, cultural backgrounds, personal preferences, co-morbidities, and actual activity levels. It also advises avoiding refined grains, sugary sweets, and sweetened beverages, replacing unhealthy snacks with healthy nuts, and stating that reducing overall carbohydrate intake improves glycemic control. The list of excluded foods for diabetes management in the handbook includes fruit juices, dates, raisins, red meat, smoked processed and cured meats, fried chicken, fried fish, carbonated beverages, fried snacks, and savory foods. These restricted foods are yummy, and it is difficult to resist the temptation to eat them. Besides, such foods are also easily available. The increasing number of NCD patients, including those with diabetes, has increased the pressure on the country’s resources allocated for healthcare services. Preventing NCDs and reducing their incidence will make available the resources and healthcare professionals needed to provide better healthcare services to larger sections of the country’s population and expand healthcare services to areas still deprived of basic healthcare facilities. This will be possible only through intensifying the awareness campaign about healthy eating.