Mann Ki Baat: PM Modi urges urgent action to tackle obesity crisis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (February 23) insisted on the need to combat obesity, urging people to cut down on oil in their meals. He also encouraged them to take up the challenge of reducing oil intake by 10 per cent and pass it on to 10 others.

In his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast, Modi said using less oil in food and dealing with obesity is not just a personal choice but also our responsibility towards our family.

Adopt healthy lifestyles

Modi also played out messages from double Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and boxing champion Nikhat Zareen who urged people to adopt healthy lifestyles.

"During the opening of the National Games in Dehradun, I raised a very important topic, which has started a new discussion in the country - this topic is 'obesity'. To become a fit and healthy nation, we will certainly have to deal with the problem of obesity," Modi said.

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The prime minister pointed out that according to a study, one in eight people are living with obesity.

'Obesity increased in children'

Cases of obesity have doubled in the past years, but, what is even more worrying is that the problem of obesity has increased fourfold even among children, the prime minister said.

"WHO data shows that in 2022, about 250 crore people around the world were overweight, that is, they had more weight than required. These statistics are very serious and force all of us to think why this is happening. Excess weight or obesity gives rise to many kinds of problems and diseases," he said.

Modi said this challenge can be dealt with minor efforts.

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'Reduce consumption of edible oil'

"For example, one method I suggested was 'reducing the consumption of edible oil by 10 per cent'. Decide that you will use 10 per cent less oil every month. You can decide that while buying oil for cooking, you will buy 10 per cent less oil. This will be an important step towards reducing obesity," he said.

In his message played out during the broadcast, Chopra said, "I somehow relate to this thing because when I started going to the ground, I was also quite overweight and when I started training and eating well, my health improved a lot and after that when I became a professional athlete, I got a lot of help in that too.

'Play outdoor sports'

"And I would also like to tell that parents should also play some outdoor sport or the other and take their children along and create a good healthy lifestyle, eat well and give your body an hour or however much time you can in a day for exercise," he said.

He also urged people to avoid fried food.

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"Recently our prime minister had said the oil used in food should be reduced by up to 10% because many times we eat a lot of fried food items which have a huge impact on obesity. So I would like to tell everyone to avoid these things and take care of their health," Chopra said.

'Obesity spreading fast'

In her message, Zareen said, "I am a two-time world boxing champion. As our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has mentioned about obesity in Mann Ki Baat and I think it's a national concern, we should be serious about our health because obesity is spreading so fast in our India, we should stop it and we should try to follow a healthy lifestyle as much as possible."

During the broadcast, cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty's message was also shared in which he said obesity today is not a cosmetic problem but very serious medical problem.

'Many youngsters are obese'

"Majority of the youngsters in India today are obese. The main cause of obesity today is poor quality of food intake especially excess intake of carbohydrates that is rice, chapati and sugar and of course large consumption of oil," he said.

Modi said excessive use of oil in food can cause many diseases like heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

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Healthy eating challenge

By making small changes in our food habits, we can make our future stronger, fitter and disease-free, he said.

"Therefore, without delay, we must increase our efforts in this direction and implement it in our lives. We can all do this together in a very playful and effective way. For example, today after this episode of Mann Ki Baat, I will request and challenge 10 people if they can reduce oil in their food by 10%. And I will also urge them to pass on the same challenge to 10 new people. I am sure this will help a lot in fighting obesity," the prime minister said.

(With agency inputs)