The Indian Council of Medical Research–National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN)-led 'Let's Fix Our Food' Consortium released a comprehensive policy document titled 'Priority Policy Actions to Promote Healthier Diets and Food Environments for Children and Adolescents in India' during a dissemination workshop at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The document outlines evidence-based recommendations developed through nearly three years of multidisciplinary research, stakeholder consultations, and policy dialogues aimed at addressing the growing burden of overweight, obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases among India's youth.
Dr. M. Srinivas, Member (Health) of NITI Aayog, launched the policy document, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based, multisectoral policy action to create healthier food environments for children and adolescents. The event was attended by Dr. Bharati Kulkarni, Director of ICMR-NIN, Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Founder President of Public Health Foundation of India, and senior representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, FSSAI, UNICEF India, Resolve to Save Lives, and other consortium partner institutions.
The policy recommendations cover multiple key areas including healthy school food environments, nutrition literacy, front-of-pack nutrition labelling, regulation of marketing of unhealthy food to children, taxation of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS), healthier dietary fats, salt reduction, low-sodium salt substitutes, social and behaviour change communication, youth engagement, and fiscal measures to promote healthier diets.
During the workshop, several knowledge products were launched including the LFOF website, the Nutrition Environment Assessment Toolkit for Schools (NEAT-S) with its accompanying report, an e-learning module on understanding food labels, and a suite of ICMR-NIN educational resources on fats, sugars and salt designed to strengthen nutrition literacy among children and adolescents.
The Let's Fix Our Food Consortium represents a multi-institutional national platform including Resolve to Save Lives India, UNICEF India, Global Health Advocacy Incubator, PHFI, WHO, FSSAI, IEG, WFP, Lady Irwin College, IFPRI, Deakin University and other national and international partners. Through research, policy analysis, advocacy and stakeholder engagement, the Consortium seeks to support India's efforts to prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases by transforming food environments, particularly for children and adolescents.