Adolescent years India's 'second window of growth', overhaul of nutrition policies needed, say experts

New Delhi, Oct 18 (PTI) India must treat adolescence as its "second window of growth" and invest urgently in nutrition, education and healthy food systems to avert a future health and productivity crisis, experts said at the 3rd International Conference on Public Health and Nutrition (ICPHN 2025) here this week.

The conference was organised by Sukarya, an NGO working on issues of maternal and child health and nutrition, gender equality and women's empowerment.

Professor K Srinath Reddy, Chancellor of the Public Health Foundation of India, said failure to address adolescent nutrition would "lock in inter-generational poverty and poor health outcomes".

"Adolescence offers a biological and social opportunity to reset health trajectories. The choices young people make now -- what they eat and how active they are -- will decide India's disease burden in 2047," he said, calling for alignment between food, agriculture and education policies, and stronger regulation of ultra-processed and high-sugar foods.

Citing National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 data, which showed that 56 per cent of adolescent girls are anaemic and nearly one in four adolescents is under or overweight, Reddy warned that the "double burden" of malnutrition could undermine India's demographic dividend.

"Policy must make the healthy choice the easy choice," he added.

Dr Deepika Nayar, Senior Health, Nutrition and Population Specialist at the World Bank, said adolescent health is both a moral and economic imperative.

"Every dollar invested in adolescent health yields a tenfold return through higher productivity and lower disease burden.

"We must scale up proven initiatives like WIFS and RKSK, and integrate digital tools and community platforms for real-time nutrition monitoring," she said.

Dr Supreet Kaur from Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) stressed that adolescent nutrition cannot be treated in isolation from broader food-system reforms.

"One in five deaths globally is linked to poor diets. We need integrated strategies -- clear food labelling, waste reduction and fiscal incentives for nutritious produce to reshape consumption behaviour," she said.

Preetu Mishra, Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF India, said India's adolescents are facing a "triple burden" of undernutrition, over-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.

"Childhood obesity has already overtaken underweight globally. Without policy action, we risk a generation suffering both stunting and lifestyle diseases," she said, urging front-of-pack labels, taxation of high-fat, salt and sugar foods, and youth-led nutrition literacy programmes.

Dr Satvinder Kaur, Associate Professor at UCSI University, Malaysia, offered a regional lens.

"Malaysian adolescents eat enough protein but mostly from fried or processed foods. Promoting diverse protein sources -- eggs, fish, soy and tempeh -- backed by school initiatives and sugar taxes, has shown encouraging results," she said, suggesting India could adopt similar models.

Dr Shweta Khandelwal, Vice President, Social and Economic Empowerment at IPE Global, emphasised that adolescent nutrition must begin long before pregnancy.

"With 11 per cent of births in India still among adolescents, pre-conception care and awareness must be embedded in every maternal health programme. We need to move from seeing youth as beneficiaries to engaging them as co-creators of health solutions," she said.

Dr Suman Chakrabarti, Associate Research Fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), said recent national data shows plateauing height trends and rising obesity among Indian adolescents.

"Adolescents are not growing taller but wider, a worrying signal of hidden hunger and excess calories," he said.

"Updated, age and gender-disaggregated data are critical for effective targeting," said Dr Sujeet Ranjan, Conference Chair and CEO of United Way Delhi.

"No single sector can solve this. We need convergence -- health, education, agriculture and urban policy must talk to each other. Only then can adolescent health become a national mission." Meera Satpathy, Founder and Chairperson of Sukarya, said this year, the focus has shifted to 'Adolescent Health- Advancing well-being and nutrition', bringing together global and local partners to safeguard the health, rights and potential of young people of India.

"Through our RMCHN (Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition), adolescent health and gender equality programmes, we will scale our proven models, bringing care, awareness and empowerment where they are needed the most.

"We will integrate nutrition, gender equality and digital innovation into every programme, using technology so we can scale faster, measure better and bridge the digital divide," Satpathy said. PTI PLB DIV DIV