BS RAWAT
NEW DELHI: The daily average consumption levels of visible fat (added fat) in Delhi and Ahmedabad has been found to be the highest among the seven metro cities in India. The lowest is in Hyderabad.

The analysis has been carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) and supported by International Life Sciences Institute -India (ILSI-India).

Prof. P K Seth, Chairman, ILSI India, said, “The visible fat consumption levels were significantly higher in Delhi and Ahmedabad at 44.4 gram / person/day and 43.9 g respectively, while the average intake in   Hyderabad and Mumbai were the lowest at 25.1 g/ person/day.”

Prof. Seth emphasized that healthy dietary practices must begin early in life. A nutritionally adequate diet is essential during all stages of life so that individuals are active, productive and free of disease.

The seven metros covered for the survey are : Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Dr A Laxmaiah, Head, Division of Public Health Nutrition, said, “We have surveyed the intake of an assortment of food, such as regular home food preparations, packaged food, sweet based preparations, bakery and biscuits and milk and milk products to come out with the quantum of added (visible) fat across a fairly large sample of 5123 individuals from 1293 households.”

Dr Laxmaiah stated, “The collated data was used to measure the visible fat consumption gender-wise also. Men consumed more fat at 34.1 g/person/day, than women, who consumed 31.1 g/person/day.  Interestingly, the same trend was visible in all metros.”

The survey also found that the overall consumption of visible fat was higher among the literate population than the less educated. The intake was higher among those who were educated beyond 10th class (35.2g/person/day) than the less educated.