By Express News Service
The outcome of a comprehensive national survey in 2017-18 on the risk of Indians picking up lifestyle diseases conveyed a pretty grim picture. The takeaways :
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
51.7% -Urban adults physically inactive (30.9% in rural India)
52.4%- Physically inactive urban women (36.1% in rural areas)
FRUITS-VEGETABLES INTAKE
5 SERVINGS – WHO’s recommendation
2 SERVINGS PER DAY – Average consumption of fruits and/or vegetables
SALT CONSUMPTION
8.9 gm/day – Salt consumed by men
7.1 gm/day – Average salt intake by women Men often took extra salt before having food
TOBACCO USAGE
28% – Adults used one or other form of tobacco daily
31.7% of them were in rural areas, 20.5% in urban India
21.1 years mean age of initiation of tobacco
ALCOHOL USAGE
15.9% of respondents consumed alcohol
81.1% of adults were lifetime abstainers of alcohol (97.3% women and 66.1% men)
22.2 mean age of initiation of alcohol use
40.2% of adults 18–69 year age group had a clustering of three or more risk factors like daily tobacco use, inadequate fruits and/or vegetable intake, insufficient physical activity etc