Indian mums: ‘Ghee is good, refined is righteous and butter is better’

By RJ Whitehead,01-Feb-2013

An major new survey has uncovered a worrying lack of awareness of diet and eating habits by both children and their parents. 

And in a development that will startle Western observers, it found that the vast majority of mothers believe that saturated fats are good for their child’s health.

The results come from a three-year study of 1,800 children aged between nine and 18. The research took place by the Diabetes Foundation of India (DFI) and its findings were recently accepted by international peer-review journal Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism.

Researchers also learnt that while 19.2% boys and 18.1% girls were either overweight or obese, and a massive 65% of their mothers were in a similar condition. This equates to at least 15m overweight children in India.

Parents no role models

The shocking nature of these figures might well stem from the fact that parents’ awareness levels about diet are low, and many think that their child’s obesity was no more than baby fat, and it would eventually go away, the survey revealed.

Many also consider food healthy as long as it is “hygienically prepared”; and worse, 89.2%, 79.2% and 55.1% respectively believe that refined vegetable oils, ghee and butter are good for health.

While mothers might think they have been setting a good example, the DFI study suggests the opposite: while up to 92% of the kids surveyed said they had more than two snacks a day, almost 64% of mothers indulged the same way.

read more