According to the National Non-Communicable Disease Monitoring Survey (NNMS), 2017-2018, a majority of Indian adults (98.4 per cent) consume an inadequate amount of fruits and vegetables, with one in every five people being overweight. The report was released by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan during the decadal year celebrations of ICMR’s National Center For Disease Informatics & Research that had conducted the survey.
Carried out between 2017 and 2018, the survey included responses from 10,659 adults (18-69 years) and 1,402 adolescents (15-17 years). Among other findings, the survey also found that 41.3 per cent of adults surveyed and 25.2 per cent of adolescents did not do sufficient physical activity.
In addition to this, nearly three out of 10 respondents (28.5 per cent) had raised blood pressure, especially “in urban areas and with increasing age”.
It was quoted Health Minister Harsh Vardhan as saying: “The country is facing epidemiologic transition towards NCD (non-communicable diseases) and their occurrence in younger age groups among the poorer sections of the society remains a matter of concern demanding greater attention.”