Tracking dietary diversity: Time to turn our attention to quality of food

As part of the 2025 Comprehensive Review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator framework, the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted minimum dietary diversity (MDD) as a new SDG indicator. SDG Goal 2, or Zero Hunger, which aims to achieve food security and improved nutrition, consists of 14 indicators, including prevalence of undernourishment, food insecurity, stunting among children, malnutrition, and anaemia in women, among others. In this context, the inclusion of MDD is expected to capture a crucial aspect previously missing in the tracking of progress towards achieving SDG 2 and the broader 2030 agenda. It will be measured for two population groups — children aged 6 to 23 months, and women of reproductive age, designated “MDD-C” and “MDD-W”, respectively. As countries around the world lift people out of extreme poverty, policymakers increasingly turn their focus towards diet diversification along with food security. With the evolution of agrifood systems and dietary patterns, monitoring what people eat assumes greater importance. Dietary diversity is closely associated with reduced mortality and lower incidence of diseases through improved nutritional and public health outcomes.

 

The Green Revolution, the public distribution system (PDS), and the National Food Security Act played a major role in tackling food shortage and malnutrition in India. According to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, hunger in India declined from 16.6 per cent in 2020-22 to 13.7 per cent in 2021-23. The proportion of the population suffering from food insecurity, stunting, wasting, and low birth weight has also gone down in recent years. There has been improvement in dietary quality as well. For instance, data from the National Family Health Survey suggests increased consumption over the years of animal-sourced protein, including meat, poultry, seafood and eggs. Yet, Indian diets largely remain skewed towards consumption of subsidised wheat, rice and sugar. This has resulted in poor diet quality with excess carbohydrate from refined grains, deficiency of good-quality protein and vitamins, excess of unhealthy fat, and low dietary fibres. Several studies indicate that the intake of fruits and vegetables still remains far below recommended levels across the country. In fact, estimates show that 55.6 per cent of the Indian population could not afford a healthy diet in 2022. The recent decision to withdraw eggs from midday meals in a few states, including Maharashtra, could seriously exacerbate undernutrition among children. Just as lack of affordability is one of the biggest barriers affecting nutritional access, the incidence of obesity has also increased. With ultra-processed foods quickly gaining ground, the number of overweight adults is set to reach 450 million by 2050. The double whammy of undernutrition and obesity calls for re-evaluation of India’s nutrition policy.

 

The challenge of providing balanced nutrition will need to be addressed at several levels, including improving the availability of food items at the right price, ensuring diet diversification for all, and containing the ill effects of processed food. Policies related to food and nutrition security will need to broaden their scope from cereal security to healthy diets. In this regard, the government has done well to facilitate cultivation and consumption of millets, and to actively procure pulses for distribution through PDS outlets. Notably, supplementation and food fortification can also address the much prevalent micronutrient deficiencies in the population.