Affluent Class children can be malnourished

By Sanjeev Shekhar

Recurrent complaints of having less food or no food by the well to do children have kept the research analysts and parents on toes. It’s a matter of concern and distress for young and working parents, who are more busy with their working lifestyle than anything this world.

A case in point-Arnav (name changed) is a 14-year old boy studying in Class Eight. He belongs to an affluent family of this city. He is from a well to do family dwelling in an urban area. He has a variety of options when it comes to food. Of late, Arnav has been feeling lethargic and weak. He is not being able to perform well in school. Initially the doctors could not infer the reason for his plight. Later they found that he suffered from anemia due to micronutrient deficiency.

It might sound surprising but it’s true. Even the city children from affluent class can be malnourished.

The case of Arnav is not in isolation, as doctors claim that the recent trend suggests that a major chunk of affluent class of children are malnourished. Clinically this is evident in famished children residing in poor and rural areas, who are deprived lot in terms of food. But in urban setting there is a “hidden hunger”.

“We may think that children are eating healthy but they may not be consuming the required amount of vitamins and minerals on a daily basis, which may cause deficiency of micronutrients (nutrients required for life in small quantities),” said a dietician working in the private hospital of the city at Bariatu.

Interestingly a section of parents believes that if the children are eating any form of food, they are having their full and healthy. According to the report of the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau of India, over 50 percent of apparently healthy looking children have sub clinical and biochemical deficiencies of micronutrients (like Vitamin A, B2, B12, Vitamin C, iron, trace minerals like iodine, zinc, etc).

Recently a report published stated that various studies like one conducted by the National Institute of Nutrition in schoolchildren aged 6 to 16 years have demonstrated sub-clinical micronutrient deficiencies (inadequacy of about 66% for vitamins B2 and B6, 60% for vitamin C and 33 – 55% for vitamin A and iron) even among apparently healthy school age. This figure might vary from state to state and Jharkhand is no exception to this.

According to the child specialist, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, working in RIMS, “One of the reasons may be that the children eat a limited portion or variety of food items, also referred to as Picky eating. In addition to this factors like frequent childhood infections may further restrict optimal food intake for meeting nutrient requirement. Inappropriate eating practices, cooking patterns and lifestyle further compound this nutritional insult.” The fat and cholesterol content of the food we consume is much higher than that of essential micronutrients. This can be attributed to the lack of a balanced diet.
Hidden hunger’ or micronutrient deficiency, as it has aptly been called is a problem that looms large and will almost certainly overwhelm us if it remains unaddressed, said Dr. N. Kinjalk. Bringing about simple changes of diversification and fortification in the dietary pattern and lifestyle modification can help radically improve the current scenario. “Effective implementation of these strategies is both the challenge and the need of the hour,” the doctor said.


Micronutrient deficiency is not just threat to children but it is spread across all age groups. In the contemporary times, every person faces onslaught of junk food, unprecedented levels of stress, lack of time and lifestyle induced diseases. Eating healthy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle with moderate exercise, are more critical than ever before.
Doctors believe that the parents need to be made more aware about the improved dietary intake or inclusion of micronutrient may help in meeting nutritional (micronutrient) requirements.

Sanjeev Shekhar

PR/Media Consultant

Raavan impact on child mind

By Sanjeev Shekhar

Ranchi-

Recently when the Press asked the legendary hero Amitabh Bachchan that whom shall he blame for the debacle of Raavan? He sportingly said that he would ask Sidharth Basu to put that question in the KBC-4. Mr. Bachchan was addressing the media persons during the launch of KBC-4 at Mumbai.

Raavan, the much-hyped movie, has Abhishek Bachchan playing a powerful title role. I haven’t seen the film but certainly I saw the promo in the television. To my mind, Abhishek had different make-up portraying some villager or tribal may be.

But his expressions in the promo was apparently horrifying. It was not I, who used to feel it but even my daughter who is hardly two and half year old used to feel the same. She used to jump in my lap initially on seeing Abhishek in the horrifying make-up and hide her face.

It hardly took us time to understand that she is petrified whenever the promo was shown in the TV. Gradually, she started fearing the sight of Abhishek Bachchan, who is otherwise handsome and one of the most sought after star for the movie-makers.

The other day when I was driving in the city with my family, my daughter suddenly started shouting, “Papa, gana bandh karo” (please stop the music). I could not understand till my wife intervened and said the music of Raavan is being played in FM and she is fearing that Raavan might appear. I eventually switched off the music for some time.

Either the TV was put off or the music was turned off at my place on daily basis these days whenever the Raavan promo comes or the music is played. My wife used to frighten her by saying “if you don’t have food, Raavan aa jayega (Raavan will come)”, or “if you don’t sleep, Raavan ko bula denge (will call Raavan).”

It became a tool for my wife to make her eat, sleep or prevent her daughter of any mischievous act. However, I was not liking whatever was happening. The reason is simple my wife and I am a great fan of Amitabh Bachchan and his family. Abhishek Bachchan is an actor who has proved his mettle in the industry. His sight not liked by my daughter was difficult to swallow by us.

I’m helpless. I don’t know how to convince the innocuous brain that Abhishek has only played the role and is not the same in the real life. It was an argument that was beyond the understanding of my daughter.

The love and affection for the Bachchan family perhaps does not allow our conscience to see or hear anything bad about them. We used to pity as why it’s happening with our daughter that she is not enjoying Abhishek.

On the other hand, she enjoys seeing Aamir Khan and Harman Joshi as she loves 3-idiot. The sight of Kareena Kapoor is being loved and adored to the brim. She recognizes Aamir as “doobi-doobi uncle” and Kareena as “doobi-doobi auntie”. She calls Harman as Raju and gets excited on seeing the movie. She has watched it once in the movie hall and I don’t know how many times on the DVD? She remembers the song “doobi-doobi” and simply shakes her hips as like Aamir and Kareena to copy their dancing style.

I still do not know what she understands at this stage and what her young developing brain is observing or thinking. It’s a matter of study or research of child psychology?

Sanjeev Shekhar

(PR, Journalist)