How junk feeds profits, starves young bodies

The food industry has trapped children into unhealthy diets, with calorie-dense ultra-processed food dominating shops and schools, Unicef warns in its report Feeding Profit: How Food Environments are Failing Children. Mint unpacks what's at stake for India and world.

- SAYANTAN BERA

1 What are the main finding of the report?

Worldwide, schoolgoing children who are obese now outnumber those who are underweight, said the report, released earlier this month. In the two decades to 2022, the prevalence of underweight children aged 5-19 fell from 13% to 9.2%, while the obesity rate shot up from 3% to 9.4%. People who are obese have a higher risk of developing insulin resistance and high blood pressure. Childhood obesity can lead to life-threatening diseases later in life including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. The Unicef report is based on nutrition data from more than 190 countries.

2 What's driving up obesity worldwide?