According to the report, the consumption of pulses has increased slightly in rural areas, but it has declined in urban areas. However, the consumption of eggs, meat, and fish has increased the most in both areas.

During the last decade, the consumption of protein-rich food has increased in India, but the intake of fat has also increased rapidly. This was revealed by the data released by the government, which said that cereals remain the main source of protein among the five major food groups. 

According to data released by the Statistics Office, since 2009-2010, there has been an increase in the daily protein intake of people in urban and rural India, which has improved in most major states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, and UP. However, there has been a slight decline in the average protein intake. During 2009-10, the daily per capita intake in urban areas was 58.8 grams, which increased by 8 percent to 63.4 grams per day in 2023-24. At the same time, the daily intake of protein in rural areas was 59.3 grams during 2009-10, which has increased slightly to 61.8 grams per day in 2023-24.

Are Indians eating more or less?

According to the report, the consumption of pulses has increased slightly in rural areas, but it has declined in urban areas. However, the consumption of eggs, meat and fish saw the highest increase in both the areas. On the other hand, if we talk about fat intake, then a huge increase has been registered in almost all the states. Let us tell you that the Ministry of Statistics has released the Nutritional Intake Report on the basis of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of 2022-23 and 2023-24. 

How much did fat intake increase?

Talking about the whole country, a huge increase in fat intake has been seen in both urban and rural areas. During 2009-10, fat intake in rural areas was 43.1 grams per day, which has increased to 60.4 grams per day in 2023-24. At the same time, fat intake in urban areas was 53 grams per day during 2009-10, which has increased to 69.8 grams per day in 2023-24. Fat intake has increased by 15 grams per day in both areas. If we look at the data, there has been an increase in fat intake per person per day in rural and urban areas of all major states.

What is providing more protein?

According to the report of the Department of Statistics, in rural areas, 46-47 percent of the protein from the five major food groups comes from cereals, which include pulses, milk, milk products, eggs, meat and fish etc. Whereas, in urban areas, 39 percent of protein intake was taken from cereals during 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The report shows that compared to 2009-10, the contribution of cereals in protein intake has decreased by about 14 percent in rural areas and about 12 percent in urban areas. According to the data, the reason for the decline in the share of cereals is the increase in the consumption of other food items including eggs, fish, meat and milk products.