Policy entry points for healthier diets in India

By Julie Ghostlaw, Avinash Kishore, Soumya Swaminathan, SubbaRao M Gavaravarapu, Samuel Scott, and Purnima Menon

Poor diets have lifelong impacts on health and are the leading global risk factor for chronic disease––meaning eating poorly can quite literally take years off life. The stakes are especially high in India, the world’s most populous country, where unhealthy diets account for a staggering 56% of the total disease burden. What can be done to tip the scales towards better health in India? 

 Drawing from recent consultations in India, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), CGIAR’s Regional Initiative on Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA), and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) have published a policy note that examines major diet-related challenges, their underlying drivers, and proposes actionable, evidence-based policy solutions for India.  

 Context on Indian Diets 

 India has seen encouraging progress in food production and consumption over the past decade.  

 Evidence shows that the production of milk, eggs, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, and pulses has increased substantially, reflecting a gradual but important shift in the availability of diverse and nutrient-rich foods.  

 Nevertheless, dietary imbalances persist. Cereals still contribute 50–70% of total daily calorie intake––far more than recommended, while consumption of protein-rich foods such as animal-source foods and pulses remains below recommended levels. Vegetable consumption has declined and remains well under recommended amounts. At the same time, households are spending more of their food budgets on calorie-dense, ultra-processed foods and prepared meals. A recent article in The Indian Express underscores these trends, noting that unhealthy diets in India have become both easier and cheaper than healthier alternatives, with ultra-processed foods gaining affordability and dominance in household budgets. While suboptimal diets affect everyone, pregnant women and young children are among the most vulnerable, often missing out on essential nutrients that can carry intergenerational consequences. 

 Unpacking the "Why": Drivers of Dietary Choices 

 Understanding why these dietary patterns look the way they do in India is essential for shaping effective policy.  Historically, agricultural policies, especially minimum support prices for rice, wheat, and sugarcane, have made these staples cheap and abundant, while more nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, and animal-source foods remain less accessible. Although households spend nearly half their budgets on food, healthy diets are still unaffordable for most families due to distorted prices that keep nutrient-rich foods expensive and calorie-dense, less healthy options cheap. 

Food choices are further shaped by taste, convenience, culture, aspirations, and awareness, alongside food environments dominated by aggressive marketing and easy access to ultra-processed foods and foods high in fats, salt, and sugar (HFSS). Deeply rooted socio-cultural norms—such as the prestige associated with foods high in fats, salt, and sugar; vegetarian preferences; gendered time constraints; and the convenience of readily available processed foods—reinforce reliance on less nutritious diets. 

 Additionally, government programs such as the Public Distribution System have safeguarded food security, but they may have reinforced cereal-heavy consumption. Weak regulation, poor labelling, and uneven enforcement of food safety and nutritional standards across food-based social protection programs have limited progress toward more diverse diets.  

 Evidence-Informed Policy Actions for Healthier Diets  

Improving diets in India requires addressing the many complex drivers of diets and calls for focusing on the most practical and impactful solutions. To this end, the policy note identified several potential policy actions, and assessed in terms of their cost and political feasibility, distinguishing between low-cost, high-feasibility actions that can be implemented quickly, and more resource-intensive reforms that may have larger impact but require greater coordination and investment over time. 

Several promising policy entry points for improving diet quality and reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods emerged. Instituting front-of-package labelling can provide easy-to-understand nutrition information that helps consumers make informed choices while also encouraging manufacturers to reformulate products. Taxes on unhealthy foods can help curb their consumption but may also burden poorer households, who may find it difficult to replace them with healthier foods. Using revenue from such taxes to support healthier options can help make nutritious choices more accessible to everyone. Restricting advertisements of ultra-processed foods, particularly those directed at children, has been shown to be effective in other countries, and could be promising for India. Finally, improving nutrition knowledge is key, including strategies such as integrating nutrition education into school curricula. 

Other policy options include making social safety nets more nutrition-sensitive. Specifically, introducing nutritious foods into large-scale government programs like India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and PM-POSHAN can improve the quality of take-home rations and Mid-Day Meals by incorporating items such as milk and eggs, while reducing or excluding sugar. Furthermore, strengthening nutrition behavior change communication in existing national programs—for example, by integrating messages on unhealthy and ultra-processed foods into ICDS and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)—can address shifting dietary patterns, particularly among priority populations like pregnant and lactating women and young children. 

Moving Forward: A Multi-Faceted Approach 

While nutrition in India has improved over time, rapid shifts in food environments––shaping what is available, what ends up on our plates, and what we choose to eat––mean the evidence base must continually evolve. Building and updating evidence alongside these transitions is essential to fill knowledge gaps and ensure that actions remain effective and cost-effective, especially given finite resources.  

Prioritizing cost-effective, evidence-based interventions is key for improving diet quality, achieving better nutritional outcomes, reducing burdens of non-communicable diseases, and ultimately giving back years of healthy life to India’s population, especially the younger generation.  

About the authors:  

Julie Ghostlaw is a Country Program Manager, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI) 

Avinash Kishore is a Senior Research Fellow, Development Strategies and Governance Unit, IFPRI 

Soumya Swaminathan is Chair, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) 

SubbaRao M Gavaravarapu is Scientist 'F' & Head, Nutrition Information, Communication & Health Education (NICHE) Division, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition 

Samuel Scott is a Research Fellow, Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, IFPRI 

Purnima Menon is a Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, IFPRI 

 This blog has been prepared under the CGIAR Scaling for Impact (S4I) program and the CGIAR Better Diets and Nutrition Science Program. It is based on the policy note, “Policy Entry Points for Healthy Diets in India: Insights from Three Consultations.” Read it here.