Indian children are facing the double burden of malnutrition and rising risk of non-communicable diseases including diabetes, high cholesterol, chronic kidney disease and hypertension, the findings of the Health Ministry’s recently released Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) 2016-18 show.
The report presents data on the shifting conditions of both undernutrition and overweight, obesity among Indian children from 0-19 years.
Gold standard methods
This was the largest micronutrient survey ever implemented globally and used gold standard methods to assess anaemia, micronutrient deficiencies and biomarkers of non-communicable diseases among children for the first time in India, noted the Ministry.
Abdominal obesity among children and adolescents showed that prevalence of abdominal obesity increased with the level of mother’s schooling and household wealth.
“The highest percentage of children with abdominal obesity was observed in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa (7% each), while the lowest percentage was observed in Bihar (0.3%),” the survey observed.
“For adolescents, the highest percentage of abdominal obesity was observed in Delhi (7%) and Tamil Nadu (6%) and the lowest percentage was observed in Assam (0.2%)”.
The survey noted that overall 8% of children aged 5-9 years and 6% of adolescents aged 10-19 years had a high subscapular skinfold thickness — an anthropometric measurement used to evaluate nutritional status by estimating the amount of subcutaneous fat — for their age.
“A much higher prevalence was observed among children and adolescents residing in urban areas as compared to rural settings. The largest prevalence was observed in Goa (21%) and Delhi (15%) with lowest prevalence being recorded from Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand (3%) and for adolescents in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam (2%).”
