Spread of fast food weighs heavy in India

Proliferation of global chains changing habits and worrying both doctors and parents


NEW DELHI: Shivam Kumar, an eighth grade student, likes nothing better than a McChicken burger from McDonald's. Sometimes, he doesn't even ask his parents to get one, but just picks up the phone and orders home delivery.

'He goes out with friends and they end up eating at some fast-food restaurant. At home, too, some days we just end up ordering in,' said his mother Rita, an education consultant.

On average, Shivam eats at McDonald's at least three times a week - and that is not counting Domino's Pizza or Pizza Hut at least once a week as well.

The 13-year-old's eating habits are emblematic of those of many middle-class Indians.

In the last decade or so, international fast-food chains such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, KFC and Subway have increasingly entered the market, and flooded it with menus tailored to the local palate.

Tired of the usual burgers and pizza? In India, you can get a chicken tikka pizza, paneer (cottage cheese) tikka sandwich, or a McAloo (potato) burger.

US chains such as Applebee's and Johnny Rockets are also keen to get a bite of India's lucrative US$13billion (S$16billion) fast-food sector, which is growing at 28 per cent every year.

According to research firm Euromonitor, Indians spent US$400 million at fast-food restaurants in 2009.

The fast-food invasion worries doctors and parents, who feel that the influx of junk food, coupled with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle among children, is increasing the risk of health problems like obesity and diabetes.

While this is a global trend, India is still well behind other countries.

Just 16 per cent of its population are overweight or obese, a lot less than the 29 per cent in China and 50per cent in Russia and Brazil, according to a 2010 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report.

But Indians are genetically prone to storing more body fat per kilo than, say, Europeans, research has consistently shown, which puts obese Indians at greater risk of getting diabetes - already a leading disease here.

Home-cooked food in India is generally not fatty, although those in the country's south are more exposed as they eat more rice and rice-based dishes. But the changing diets are adding to the kilos, say experts.

Recent studies show that 17per cent to 20per cent of India's children between the ages of nine and 18 are overweight or obese - above the national average - while their average weight has risen by 5kg in the last two decades.

'The increase in childhood obesity has been due to unhealthy eating habits, coupled with sedentary lifestyle,' said Dr Anoop Misra, a director at the Diabetes Foundation (India).

'Obesity in India is increasing at an alarming rate.'

A study conducted by the foundation last year found that children aged between nine and 18 regarded eating fast food as 'fashionable'.

McDonald's, for instance, has been reeling the customers in with affordable burgers - anything from 30 rupees (80 Singapore cents) - and reliable home-delivery services, and the chain's restaurants, with their central locations and modern decor, are popular hangouts.

When the foundation surveyed 1,800 children, it found that a third of them ate fried food at least two to three times a week, while 45 per cent ate chips just as frequently.

Fast-food chains, however, defend their menus and say they offer healthy options too.

Domino's stocks wheat thin-crust pizzas, local chain Nirula has low-fat ice cream, and Subway has 97per cent fat-free sandwiches.

McDonald's, too, stresses that its localised menu - which is free of pork and beef - has vegetarian options such as Paneer Wrap and McAloo Tikki burger.

'We have a whole range of vegetarian products in India,' said Mr Amit Jatia, the vice-chairman of Hardcastle Restaurants, the franchisee of the famous double arches.

'On the breakfast side, we have a whole range of healthy options. Our milkshakes have just 2to 3 per cent fat.

'If you go to a McDonald's, you should be able to find nutritional leaflets placed near the counter.'

Mr Jatia also pointed out that traditional food is sometimes no better.

'We have samosa, idli and dosa, where a lot of ghee goes into it,' he said. 'We are not saying you must eat McDonald's food every day. Our point of view is have a balanced lifestyle and eat everything in moderation.'

Not everyone is convinced by the 'healthy options' argument, however.

Many point out that the lure of fast food has even gone into the schools.

Many schools have tied up with fast-food chains to serve burgers, pizzas and fried snacks like pakoras (deep-fried vegetable fritters) in their canteens.

This prompted the Uday Foundation, which deals with children's issues, to file a petition calling for a ban on the sale of junk food and carbonated drinks both in and within a 500m radius of educational institutions.

Doing so 'will make our kids feel better, grow better and learn better and it will improve the nutritional quality of school meals', the non-governmental group said in a statement last year.

The federal government has also urged states to consider such a ban.

But junk food is just one part of the problem, said experts. The other half is an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.

With many Indians moving to high-rise apartments and with a shortage of playgrounds in the city, children are spending more time than ever in front of television sets and computers, they noted.

In a recent study, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India found that children spend some 35 hours watching television every week.

More than half (55 per cent) said they prefer this to playing outside with friends.

gnirmala@sph.com.sg