India’s Urban Health Crisis: Tackling the Overnutrition and Obesity Epidemic

A recent study published in Nature (May 2025) reported that 84% of urban IT professionals in Hyderabad showed signs of fatty liver (MAFLD), highlighting the alarming spread of overnutrition and obesity-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India’s cities. This reinforces earlier warnings by NFHS-5, Lancet, and WHO about India’s worsening urban health profile.

Admission Open for Live IAS GS Prelims cum Mains Foundation Batch for 2026/27- Meet our faculties

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. The Double Burden of Malnutrition in Urban India

3. Causes of Rising Urban Overnutrition

4. Current Policy Framework and Its Gaps

5. Global Best Practices: Saudi Arabia’s Model

6. Challenges to Address

7. Way Forward: Towards a National Overnutrition Strategy

8. Conclusion

1. Introduction:

India’s urban health landscape is undergoing a quiet but dangerous transformation. While hunger and undernutrition persist in many corners, the urban middle and upper classes are increasingly battling the opposite—overnutrition. The rising prevalence of obesity, metabolic disorders, and lifestyle-linked NCDs like diabetes and fatty liver signals a public health crisis that is not just personal but systemic and structural.

2. The Double Burden of Malnutrition in Urban India:

India now faces a paradox: it features both in the Global Hunger Index and in the list of countries with the fastest-growing obesity prevalence.

Key Trends:

• NFHS-5: Obesity prevalence stands at 32% in ages 40–49.

• 37% obesity among India’s wealthiest urban residents.

• Childhood obesity has surged by 244% in 30 years (Lancet 2025).

• India ranked 2nd globally in obesity (2021).

• Urban poor are increasingly vulnerable due to cheap, ultra-processed foods.

3. Causes of Rising Urban Overnutrition:

• Fast Food Proliferation: Easily accessible and aggressively marketed.

• Sedentary Work Culture: Especially in tech corridors, with long screen time.

• Disrupted Sleep & Stress: Both linked to weight gain and insulin resistance.

• Ultra-processed Diets: Low in fiber, high in sugar and trans fats.

• Lack of Awareness & Food Labeling: Poor visibility of food nutrition.

• Social Norms: Celebration foods high in fat, salt, and sugar.

4. Current Policy Framework and Its Gaps:

5. Global Best Practices: Saudi Arabia’s Model:

Saudi Arabia, a region also battling rising obesity, has adopted a multi-layered strategy:

• 50% tax on sugary drinks

• 100% tax on energy drinks

• Mandatory nutritional labelling

• Ban on trans fats

• Multi-ministerial coordination

Such interventions have shown measurable success in reducing junk food intake and raising public nutrition awareness.

6. Challenges to Address:

• Weak enforcement of food and advertisement norms.

• Urban food deserts: Few healthy options in lower-income localities.

• Fragmented campaigns: Lack of sustained public health messaging.

• Poor school nutrition audits and vendor regulation.

• Untrained urban planners and civic authorities in food-linked zoning.

7. Way Forward: Towards a National Overnutrition Strategy:

Multisectoral Urban Health Planning

• Coordinate health, food, urban design, taxation, and education ministries.

• Integrate nutrition into Smart City Missions.

Regulate Food Marketing and Labelling

• Ban ads targeting children for high-sugar, high-fat foods.

• Mandate clear front-of-pack labels.

Fiscal Measures

• Introduce sin taxes on ultra-processed foods.

• Subsidise millets, pulses, and fruits in PDS and mid-day meals.

Healthy School and Office Ecosystems

• Nutrition audits for canteens.

• Mandatory healthy meal options and sugar limits.

Public Awareness Campaigns

• Mass campaigns using social media, sports icons, and regional languages.

Research & Data

• National Urban Nutrition Survey for real-time monitoring.

8. Conclusion:

Obesity is not just a ‘rich person’s disease’ anymore. It is silently affecting India’s youth productivity, public health budgets, and future workforce. To avoid a ticking time bomb of NCDs, India must adopt a bold, targeted, and enforceable national strategy on overnutrition—framed not only by health experts, but also by urban planners, educators, and civic leaders.