Overweight children and women in India: Evidence from three waves of the National Family Health Survey, 1992-2006

Excess weight gain and potential obesity among children in the developing world is an increasing concern as the world becomes more developed and urban. Changing urban life styles bring an increasing availability of fast and processed foods. Compounding this is the growth of working middle-class and poor families, often with exceedingly long commutes, that adopt western-style work-family dynamics impacting traditional means of food consumption and preparation (Popkin 1994). Urban women and higher socioeconomic groups have been shown to consume increasing proportions of fats and high calorie foods (Shetty 2000; IIPS 2000). Increasing prevalences of weight gain and obesity among women of higher socioeconomic status and urban women have also been documented (Griffiths and Bentley 2001, 2005). Urbanization and economic development can potentially lead to a public health paradox of concurrent underand over-nutrition in the developing world population. Furthermore, while malnutrition among children remains a substantial concern, and public health priority, the implications of a simultaneous obesity disparity is not to be ignored. This study examines these trends in India, from 1992/93-2005/06, a period in which India has seen a rapid rate of urbanization and economic development (World Bank).