India drafts first obesity guidelines

In a first, the government is working on a National Obesity Guideline for the management and treatment of obesity, which has been rising steadily in the country, sources said.

The first meeting on the subject was recently held under the chairmanship of the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in the presence of health ministry officials and leading endocrinologists, nutritionists, bariatric surgeons, diabetologists, and other medical experts.

India has never had its own national obesity guideline; health professionals have traditionally relied on WHO standards. The new initiative also aims to build an Indian database, supplementing the National Family Health Surveys, to better assess causes, treatment, and management strategies.

On Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned that obesity is emerging as a “silent crisis” in India. “If every family decides to reduce the use of cooking oil by 10 percent, it will benefit the health of the nation,” he said.

The forthcoming obesity guidelines will go beyond treatment, focusing on early intervention, prevention, screening, and diagnosis, according to sources.

Interest in weight loss has surged in recent years, partly due to the availability of new drugs that mimic gut hormones such as GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonists, which suppress appetite and slow digestion to aid weight loss. These drugs, already widely used internationally, are gaining popularity in India not only among diabetics but also among those seeking to lose weight beyond diet and exercise. The guidelines are expected to address the use of such medications under medical supervision.

Earlier this year, the ICMR–National Institute of Nutrition released the Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024, which emphasize adopting a healthy lifestyle, limiting salt intake, improving cooking methods, and reducing consumption of high-fat, high-sugar, and ultra-processed foods. The new obesity guidelines will specifically address obesity, its causes, and strategies for prevention at early stages.

Currently, one in four Indians struggles with obesity. Its prevalence has tripled over the past decade across both urban and rural populations. According to NFHS-5 (2019–21), 24 percent of women and 23 percent of men are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity (under age five) also rose, from 2.1 per cent in NFHS-4 to 3.4 per cent in NFHS-5.

NFHS-5 introduced waist circumference as a measure, revealing that 40 percent of women and 12 percent of men in India have abdominal obesity. Among women aged 30–39, the figure rises to 49.3 percent, and among those aged 40–49, it is 56.7 percent.

By BMI alone, however, only 23 percent of women fall into the obese category—indicating that many with a “healthy” BMI still have abdominal obesity.

Regional disparities: Abdominal obesity is highest in Kerala (65.4 percent), Punjab (62.5 percent), Delhi (59 percent), and Tamil Nadu (57.9 percent), while Jharkhand (23.9 percent) and Madhya Pradesh (24.9 percent) show lower prevalence. Abdominal obesity is strongly linked to older age, urban residence, higher income, non-vegetarian diets, and among both men and women, a higher prevalence was found in the Sikh community.