​Catch them young: On overweight or obese children in India

The phrase ‘catch them young’ has acquired a perverse slant in a world grappling with a galloping non-communicable diseases epidemic. The full gamut of conditions that comprise metabolic diseases, usually impacting people with advancing age, are affecting even children, studies show. The recently released World Obesity Atlas 2026 delivers a true shocker. As per the report, released on World Obesity Day (March 4), in 2025, there were 14.9 million children in the 5-9 years group and more than 26.4 million children in the 10-19 age group in India who were overweight or obese. About 41 million children had a high BMI rate. Further, estimates suggest that by 2040, 20 million children in India will be obese and 56 million will be overweight. The report also estimates that at least 120 million children of school-going age are expected to have early signs of chronic illnesses such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease due to weight, in 2040. While, globally, China leads both categories, with 62 million children with high BMI and 33 million with obesity, India comes second, and is tailed by the United States (27 million high BMI; 13 million obesity). With such high obesity figures, the attendant health statistics too are unacceptably off the charts: In India, children aged 5-19 years with disease indicators attributed to high BMI, including hypertension, diabetes, hyperglycaemia, high cholesterol, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) are projected to rise substantially by 2040. The risk factors are similar to adult-onset metabolic conditions, broadly categorised as insufficient activity and consumption of unhealthy foods. Other aspects, mentioned as causes, include poor access to healthy school meals for primary and secondary grade children, and sub-optimal breast feeding for infants aged 1-5 months.

Clearly, not enough is being done to stem this tide of growing childhood obesity. The World Obesity Federation calls for greater action and emphasis on monitoring in terms of marketing restrictions and sugar levies on packaged food products. Experts have also called for restrictions on marketing packaged foods to children, sincere implementation of global physical activity recommendations for children, ensuring the mandatory breastfeeding period for infants, and healthier school food standards, besides integration of prevention and care into primary health systems. It is worrisome that obesity and overweight, once associated with higher-income countries, are now catching up rapidly in low- and middle-income countries. If nothing is done at this stage, the gains that the nation expects from its youth, even as it heads towards a grey path, will be hollowed out. The only way out is to catch them young, even before non-communicable diseases can.