Radhika Gupta recently spoke about one of the prevalent health problems in the country -- obesity. Taking to social media, the Edelweiss Mutual Funds' CEO suggested a possible measure that restaurants can take that can not only tackle obesity but also food waste while increasing revenue.
"I am glad we are talking about obesity as a problem so widely. It is critical," Gupta wrote. "I have one basic suggestion to restaurants - introduce half-plate options on all your meals. Many of us eat small portions, and eat a little extra because we as Indians, don't like to waste food. Sharing is not always an option when ordering individually. Price the half meals at more than 50 percent of the full meal, if that makes economic sense. Create options to eat a little less, without wasting food or money!"
Gupta's comments came after Let's Fix Our Food (LFOF), a group led by the Indian Council of Medical Research- National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN), called for urgent action to improve the food environment for young people where 24 percent of adolescents are underweight and over 17 million children and teens are living with obesity.
Her "practical advice" received a positive response on social media.
"It's a practical advice - admirable one. We need it. Restaurants can promote the idea of a food bank - to be maintained by contributions of guests. It shall improve the footfall too leading to better commercials," wrote Sanjay Kumar (@ksanjay69) on X. Another user Manan Mankad (@mananmankad) commented, "i have seen two - three restaurants in ahmedabad doing the same, also my recent visit to Bangkok, I have observed that some of the local indian restaurants have done the same. Half plate at half price too."
"Imagine menus where the default is reasonably portioned, and ‘upsizing’ is opt-in," wrote Anooshka Soham Bathwal (@anooshkabathwal). "We’ve done it with coffee—why not meals? Small changes, big health dividends!"
A couple of recent studies published in The Lancet medical journal have estimated that 380 crore people, or over half of all adults globally, will be overweight or obese by 2050.
As of 2021, nearly 211 crore people, about 45 percent of the global population, were reported as obese or overweight, and about half of these people were found in just eight countries, with China topping the list with 40.2 crore obese people and India ranking second with 18 crore.
Read more: Why is obesity growing in India? Experts list causes of the epidemic
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