Residents of Delhi and NCR are spending little money on fruits and vegetables. As a result, people are lacking in adequate intake of phytonutrients.
According to the findings of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), only 9.6 per cent of income is spent on fruits and vegetables while 48.2 per cent of income is spent on consumption of apparels and accessories.
On Thursday, ICRIER released a report on “India’s Phytonutrient” authored by Aprita Mukherjee, Souvik Dutta, an assistant professor at IIM Bangalore and Tanu M Goyal, a consultant at ICRIER.
As per the report, Indian consumers across all income groups are consuming less than the ‘recommended’ quantity of at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables (or five daily servings with an average serving size of 80 grams).
The findings of survey said the average intake of fruits and vegetables is 3.5 servings per day, which comprise of 1.5 servings of fruits and 2 servings of vegetables. In young generation the intake is even lower from 18-25 year generation is taking only 2.97 serving per day. However for 18-35 years it is 3.3 servings per day.
“The average intake among youth and students is abysmally low at 2.94 servings per day. Not only this, there are variations across diet types — the average daily intake of fruits and vegetables is 3.87 servings for a vegetarian, 3.2 servings for a non-vegetarian,” report says.
low consumption of fruits and vegetables are also due to the seasonal availability and high cost with 89 per cent of the respondents are unaware of WHO’s recommended daily intake of fruits and veggies, said the report.
Emphasising on the importance of phytonutrients, Mukherjee said, “Fruits and vegetables are main source of Phytonurtrients which keep us fit and healthy. However, Indians are lacking in adequate intake of phytonutrients due to the changing lifestyle.”
“There is immediate need to spread awareness among youth and students about the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables on the lines of WHO recommended servings,” said Mukherjee.
The report reveals that the lifestyle is the topmost reason for low consumption of fruits and vegetables across all age groups but more so among the younger cohort (18-35 years) respondents in Delhi and NCR. The other reason is income which plays an important role in the consumption of fruits and veggies.
Dr Sunita Roy Choudhary, chief dietician at BlK Super Speciality Hospital said, “Phytonutrients are very important for human body to stay fit. These help the body to remove toxins which are produced during metabolism. Vitamins, minerals and fibre rich fruits help in coping up with chronic disease such as cancer, heart diseases and obesity too.”
People with deficiency of Phytonutrients are prone to suffer from different health disorders and trend is more common in youth, women and elderly people, said Choudhary adding that fresh veggies and juicy fruits should be eaten more.