Mumbai: Children growing up in India’s urban slums are confronting a new health challenge. Beyond the persistent issue of undernutrition, many are becoming overweight or obese by the time they reach primary school. This creates a dangerous “double burden of malnutrition” that could fuel future epidemics of diabetes and heart disease.
Key Findings from the Study
Published in The Lancet Regional Health, the study tracked 250 children born in an urban slum between 2010 and 2012 until they turned nine years old. Researchers from Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, and the Advanced Research Unit on Metabolic Disorders (ARUMDA) at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) found that while many children began life undernourished, a growing number developed obesity during their early school years.
Lead researcher Dr. Beena Koshy stated, “Our findings show that children in low-income urban communities are now facing both thinness and emerging obesity before they even enter their teens. Malnutrition in India is no longer just about underweight toddlers, but about the entire childhood years.”
Understanding the Double Burden
Public health experts describe this as the “double burden of malnutrition” — the coexistence of undernutrition and overnutrition within the same population, household, or even individual. This phenomenon has serious implications for future risks of diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions.
Co-authors Prof. Ullas Kolthur and Mahendra Sonawane from ARUMDA-TIFR emphasized the need to extend nutrition interventions beyond infancy. “Our findings clearly hint at the importance of child growth beyond the first 1,000 days. Extending nutrition, growth monitoring, and healthy food and activity initiatives into the primary school years is essential because this is when children’s metabolic profiles are being shaped for life,” they said.
Urbanization and Lifestyle Changes
The researchers suggested that changing diets and sedentary lifestyles in rapidly urbanizing environments are altering growth trajectories within a single decade of life. Brinelle D’Souza from the Centre for Health and Mental Health at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, noted that urban poverty is increasingly accompanied by unhealthy food choices. “Urban malnutrition is rampant, but it is no longer just undernutrition but even overnutrition that we need to worry about,” she said.
She pointed out that working parents often lack time to prepare traditional meals, while inexpensive packaged foods are widely available. “Moreover, they have enough disposable cash in slums in Mumbai to let the child buy a fast food packet for Rs 5. It’s a combination of urban poverty, advertising, and aspirations for people in slums to be eating packaged foods.”
Call for Awareness Campaigns
D’Souza added that local governments should undertake awareness campaigns in urban slums to educate families about the link between packaged foods and non-communicable diseases later in life.
This study underscores the urgent need for comprehensive strategies addressing both undernutrition and obesity in vulnerable populations. With rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles, interventions must adapt to protect children’s long-term health.
