From Obesity To Rising Healthcare Costs, Why India Needs An Urgent War On Junk Food

The Economic Survey 2025-26 has flagged the growing consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) as a significant public health concern, linking it to chronic diseases, rising obesity, and widening health inequalities. In a detailed section under its Education and Health chapter, the Survey argues that the evidence is strong enough for policy action and that addressing the issue cannot be postponed while further research continues. The inclusion of ultra-processed foods in the government's flagship economic document is notable. Economic Surveys usually focus on growth, inflation, fiscal trends, and sectoral performance. By highlighting UPFs, the Survey signals that diet-related health outcomes are increasingly being viewed as an economic issue, with implications for healthcare costs, productivity, and long-term development.

Why Ultra-Processed Foods Matter To Economic Policy

The Survey treats ultra-processed foods as more than a nutrition problem. It places them within a broader discussion on public health risks that can strain healthcare systems and deepen inequality. "An increase in UPFs in the human diet is contributing to chronic diseases worldwide and widening health inequalities," the Survey states, citing a growing body of global evidence linking UPFs to obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and heart disease. The document also refers to the Economic Survey 2024-25, which had earlier outlined the rapid expansion of UPF markets in India and globally, along with emerging links to physical and mental health issues. This year's Survey builds on those findings.

What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

Ultra-processed foods are industrial products made largely from refined ingredients, additives, and preservatives, often high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) and low in whole-food content. Common examples include packaged snacks, instant noodles, sugary drinks, and ready-to-eat meals. The Survey does not name specific products. Instead, it focuses on overall dietary patterns shaped by urbanisation, convenience, pricing, and heavy marketing. As UPFs become more widely available, the quality of diets has declined.

The Economy Survey 2025-26 argues that the health risks associated with these foods are now clear enough to justify timely intervention. "There should be no delay in implementing public health policies while further research continues to unfold," it says, drawing on studies published in The Lancet and reviews by UNICEF and other global bodies.

Why Individual Choice Is Not Enough

One of the Survey's clearest messages is that improving diets cannot be left entirely to personal choice. While awareness campaigns have a role, the document says they are insufficient on their own. "Improving diets cannot depend solely on consumer behaviour change," the Survey notes. Instead, it calls for coordinated action across food systems, including regulation of UPF production, clearer information for consumers, and changes in how food is marketed and promoted.

This reflects a shift away from approaches that place responsibility only on individuals. The Survey recognises that everyday food choices are shaped by what is affordable, accessible, and heavily advertised.

Marketing Practices Under Scrutiny

The Survey discusses some of the ways ultra-processed foods are marketed, particularly to children and adolescents. It notes that UPF advertising often encourages overconsumption through slogans such as "I bet you can't eat just one", along with emotional messaging, discount offers, and celebrity endorsements. In many cases, UPFs are also presented as convenient or even healthy options, which the Survey says contributes to the displacement of traditional, minimally processed foods and lowers overall diet quality.

Evidence cited includes studies showing that adolescents exposed to unhealthy food and beverage advertising are more likely to want and consume the promoted products. An India-based study from Punjab found that parents were concerned about food advertisements during children's television viewing hours and the influence of celebrity endorsements on eating habits. International research, including a UNICEF review and studies from New Zealand, further supports the link between children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing and higher UPF consumption.

The Survey does not treat marketing as the only reason behind the rise in ultra-processed food consumption or obesity. Instead, it places marketing alongside broader factors such as urban lifestyles, long working hours, price and convenience, and the easy availability of packaged foods, showing that the problem is rooted in how food systems function today rather than in advertising or personal choice alone.

Ultra-Processed Foods: A Growing Global Challenge

The concerns flagged by India's Economic Survey reflect a broader global trend. Across countries, ultra-processed foods have become more common as food systems have shifted toward speed, scale, and convenience. Longer working hours, urban lifestyles, smaller households, and the expansion of modern retail have favoured foods that are inexpensive, easy to store, and heavily branded. For many consumers, UPFs offer affordability and convenience at a time when both cooking time and food budgets are under strain.

At the same time, a growing body of global research has linked high consumption of ultra-processed foods to several health risks, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and poor metabolic health. Some studies have also raised concerns about their effects on gut health and mental well-being. While not all processed foods are harmful, diets dominated by ultra-processed products are typically high in calories and low in fibre and essential nutrients, increasing the risk of overeating and poor diet quality.

Public health experts increasingly agree that the UPF challenge cannot be addressed at a single level. At the individual level, awareness and basic nutrition knowledge remain important. At the social level, schools, workplaces, and communities influence everyday food habits, particularly among children. At the national and economic level, governments are focusing on clearer food labelling, limits on marketing to children, and policy measures that make healthier food options easier to access and afford.

What's Next

Globally, thinking is shifting away from seeing diet-related disease as a matter of personal failure, toward recognising it as a result of modern food environments. Addressing ultra-processed foods, many experts argue, requires public health goals to be better aligned with food policy, urban planning, education, and economic decision-making.

The Economic Survey 2025-26 does not call for bans on ultra-processed foods, nor does it name companies or propose punitive action. Instead, it stresses evidence-based regulation, clearer information for consumers, and improvements to the overall food environment. By raising the issue in an economic policy document, the Survey frames diet-related disease as a long-term development concern, with rising healthcare costs, productivity losses, and unequal health outcomes all affecting economic growth.