Right kind of food will help reduce disease burden on country: Health minister

New Delhi: Right kind of diet will help to reduce the disease burden on the country, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday, while inaugurating the second edition of the ‘Eat Right Mela’ here.

He stressed the importance of having a peoples’ movement to encourage the public to have healthier diets.

He said that the Eat Right Mela of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a commendable effort and outreach activity for citizens to push them towards eating right.

Vardhan also highlighted that “India, on one side, is suffering from under-nourishment, on the other side, there is obesity, which is apparently the result of excessive consumption of junk food, wrong choices of food, overeating, and lack of exercise”.

The Union Minister launched ‘The PURPLE Book’ a handbook on diets for diseases. The book provides general guidelines for hospitals on suitable diets for common medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, gut disorders and so on.

At the event, Vardhan also launched NetSCoFAN (Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition), a network of research and academic institutions working in the area of food and nutrition.

“Let’s develop the habit of not wasting food, and sharing food with those who are needy”, he said.