The dynamics of health in urban India: Dietary transition and its health implications on infant and young children

Much of the research in recent times have focused on the changes in diets of people of developed as well as developing nations. This study tries to explain the changing food preferences of people in Indian context using data from a couple of secondary sources, and the health outcome of these changes on adult and young children. Further the study tries to examine the association of feeding practices on nutritional outcome during early childhood considering that these two are not mutually exclusive. We also examine the clustering of some quantitative measures of nutrition and the transmission of height, weight and other health outcomes from parents to children. The results confirm the westernisation of traditional diet in India particularly in urban areas, and its influence on nutritional status distribution of children from more underweight towards coexistence of overweight and underweight. Along with westernisation, differential feeding practices is another determinant of change in health outcome of children, but less improvement have been noticed in percentage of children getting a diverse diet. The results further indicate significant correlation between health status of parents and children and propose that children inherit a prominent fraction of their health status from their parents.