CBSE's sugar boards in schools: How menu change without fast food can curb Type 2 diabetes in children

This is a story of two 12-year-old food addicts, separated by geographies but united by their food choices.

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A boy in Kochi ordered burgers and fries twice a day, alternating between McDonald's and KFC for variety. His counterpart in Delhi lived on carbohydrates exclusively, beginning with cheeseburger buns for breakfast, albeit home-made, rice and rajma at school lunch, sub-sandwiches as filler snacks, chocolate chip cookies or pastries for hungry bites and cheesy pastas for dinner. All of these were interspersed with Coke cans or energy drinks. Both of them gained weight and were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a condition where the sugar-regulating hormone insulin is not enough to keep blood sugar levels in range.Both boys had built addictive behaviours because of unchecked and indulgent food habits in their early years without a commensurate increase in physical activity and sticking to desk-bound routines given their academic pressure. A 2023 report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) found the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in the 10 to 19 age group as almost two per cent. In metropolitan areas, this figure was as high as 3-4 per cent.

How much sugar is your child having? How much sugar is your child having?