India is facing a rapidly escalating public health crisis of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with millions suffering from diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease currently. In the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016-2018), more than half of the children and adolescents (5-19) years old had biomarkers indicating a substantial NCDs risk burden. Consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which are intrinsically unhealthy, is rising, and is a central cause of the rapidly escalating burden of obesity and associated NCDs.
This concept note discusses the public health crisis India faces due to consumption of UPFs, definition of UPFs and how to identify them, evidence that supports the impact it has on human health, mechanism that explains range the relation between consumption and disease burden, role of aggressive marketing in increasing consumption, analysis of existing policy frameworks and policy recommendation for curbing the marketing and consumption of UPFs.
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