The junk food trap: Why childhood obesity is exploding in India and beyond

FOR decades, the narrative surrounding childhood obesity has been stubbornly simplistic. It’s often painted as a “disease of affluence,” a problem confined to the developed world where fast-food chains dot every corner, screen time replaces playtime, and sugary drinks are more accessible than clean water. This perception is not just outdated; it is dangerously wrong, as starkly evidenced by the escalating crisis in countries like India, where traditional challenges of undernutrition are now being rivaled by rising rates of childhood obesity.

The latest UNICEF Child Nutrition Report 2025, titled “Feeding my profit,” delivers a powerful and unsettling correction to this narrative. It reveals that childhood obesity is no longer a challenge exclusive to rich countries. Instead, it is a rapidly escalating global health crisis, penetrating low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) like India with a ferocity that is overwhelming fragile healthcare systems and perpetuating cycles of poverty and ill health. Nowhere is this shift more evident than in India, which is witnessing one of the world’s fastest-growing rates of childhood obesity, driven by the same relentless global expansion and sophisticated marketing of the Ultra-Processed Food (UPF) and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) industry.

This blog will delve into the report’s key findings to dismantle the myth of obesity as a rich-world problem and expose the complex, profit-driven machine that is reshaping diets and damaging children’s health in every corner of the world.

The global shift: Data that tells a new story

The UNICEF report presents a stark statistical picture that shatters the old paradigm. While undernutrition—stunting and wasting—rightly remains a critical focus, especially in regions like South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of childhood overweight is rising at an alarming rate, often in the very same countries and sometimes within the same communities or even the same households. This creates a “double burden of malnutrition,” where undernutrition and overweight coexist, presenting a nightmare scenario for public health officials.

Consider these powerful data points from the report:

• The rise is universal: The number of children aged 5-19 living with overweight has skyrocketed, from 31 million in 2000 to a staggering 160 million in 2022. This growth is not evenly distributed, with the most significant increases occurring in LMICs.
• A crisis of the young: For children under 5, the situation is equally dire. In 2022, 37 million young children were overweight, a problem now affecting every region of the world.
• No region is immune: The report highlights that three-quarters of all children under 5 with overweight live in Asia and Africa. This single statistic should be the death knell for the “disease of affluence” myth. Countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North Africa are also experiencing steep upward trends.

This geographical shift is not accidental. It is the direct result of a calculated business strategy employed by multinational food and beverage corporations. As markets in high-income countries become saturated and face increasing regulatory pressure (e.g., sugar taxes, marketing restrictions), these companies have identified LMICs as their primary growth frontiers.

The Engine of the Crisis: How Big Food Fuels Obesity in Vulnerable Contexts

So, how exactly is childhood obesity taking root in countries still grappling with poverty and undernutrition? The UNICEF report identifies several interconnected drivers, all leading back to the practices of the baby food and processed food industry.

1. The ubiquity and aggressive marketing of ultra-processed foods (UPFs)

UPFs are industrial formulations typically containing little or no whole foods. They are packed with sugars, unhealthy fats, salt, and artificial additives designed to be hyper-palatable, cheap, and have a long shelf life. Think sugary breakfast cereals, instant noodles, packaged snacks, sodas, and processed meats.

The report exposes how these companies deploy vast, multi-channel marketing budgets to target parents and children directly in LMICs:

• Digital targeting: With smartphone penetration exploding globally, companies use social media, gaming platforms, and influencer marketing to bypass traditional advertising regulations and reach children directly in their digital worlds.
• Exploiting parental aspirations: Advertising often positions these products as modern, convenient, and aspirational—a symbol of a Western, prosperous lifestyle. For parents striving to give their children the best, this messaging is powerfully persuasive.
• Misleading health claims: Packages are adorned with buzzwords like “fortified with vitamins,” “full of energy,” or “natural” to create a “health halo,” misleading parents into believing they are making a nutritious choice for their child when they are often purchasing a product high in sugar and unhealthy ingredients.

2. The economic illusion: Cheap calories, expensive consequences

In the short term, UPFs are economically seductive. They are often cheaper, more accessible, and more convenient than fresh, whole foods, especially in urban areas where traditional food systems may be disrupted.

• Food deserts in a new context: In many poor urban neighborhoods, the only readily available food sources are small shops or kiosks (known as tiendas in Latin America or dukas in Africa) stocked almost exclusively with packaged snacks and sugary drinks. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and quality proteins are harder to find and more expensive.
• The “full belly” fallacy: For families struggling with food insecurity, calorie-dense UPFs provide a way to stave off hunger. However, these are “empty calories” that do not provide the essential nutrients for healthy growth and development, leading to obesity coupled with micronutrient deficiencies—a form of malnutrition sometimes called “hidden hunger.”

3. The first bite: The role of commercial baby foods

The UNICEF report places significant emphasis on the baby food industry, a sector worth over $70 billion, as a critical entry point for unhealthy eating habits. While breastmilk is the ideal food for infants, aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes has long been a problem. The report now highlights a new threat: the growing market of unhealthy commercial complementary foods for children aged 6-36 months.

Many of these products, especially snacks and instant cereals, are high in sugar and unsuitable for young children. By hooking infants on a sweet palate from their very first foods, the industry sets a lifelong preference for sugary, processed products, creating a pipeline of future consumers.

The Consequences: A heavy burden for developing nations

The rise of childhood obesity in LMICs is not just a health statistic; it is a demographic and economic time bomb.

• Health Systems Under Siege: Healthcare systems in these countries are already strained by infectious diseases and the lingering effects of undernutrition. They are profoundly unprepared for the coming tsunami of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) linked to obesity: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and certain cancers. Treating these chronic conditions is complex and expensive, threatening to bankrupt families and overwhelm public health budgets.
• Perpetuating Cycles of Poverty: A child with obesity faces a higher risk of missing school due to illness and may suffer from low self-esteem, stigma, and depression. As they grow into adults with chronic diseases, their ability to work and earn a living is compromised, trapping families in intergenerational cycles of poor health and poverty.
• The Double Burden Within Households: The most cruel irony is the coexistence of undernutrition and overweight within the same family. A mother might be overweight or diabetic while her child is stunted, or one child may be wasted while another is overweight. This phenomenon, driven by shared diets of cheap, nutrient-poor UPFs, makes targeted nutritional interventions incredibly complex.

Beyond Blame: A call for systemic change

It is easy to blame individual parents for their children’s diets, but this ignores the powerful, systemic forces at play. Parents in Lagos, Mexico City, or Jakarta are not making “poor choices” in a vacuum. They are making rational decisions within an environment engineered by corporate interests to make the unhealthy choice the easiest, cheapest, and most heavily advertised one.

The UNICEF report is not just a diagnosis; it is a call to action. It argues that governments must move beyond weak, voluntary codes of conduct and implement strong, mandatory regulations to protect children. These include:

1. Stringent Marketing Restrictions: Enact and enforce comprehensive laws that prohibit the marketing of UPFs and SSBs to children across all media, including digital platforms.
2. Front-of-Package Warning Labels: Implement clear, easy-to-understand warning labels (like those in Chile and Mexico) that help parents quickly identify products high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats.
3. Fiscal Policies: Introduce taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and other unhealthy foods, using the revenue to subsidize fresh fruits and vegetables or fund public health programs.
4. Standards for Commercial Baby Foods: Develop and enforce strict nutrient profiles for foods marketed for young children, prohibiting high levels of sugar and salt.
5. Supporting Healthy Food Systems: Invest in local agriculture, markets, and supply chains to make fresh, nutritious food more accessible and affordable for all families.

A Case Study in Crisis: India’s rapid surge in childhood obesity

India stands as a stark microcosm of the global childhood obesity crisis, vividly illustrating how this challenge is no longer confined to wealthy nations. Once primarily preoccupied with undernutrition, the country is now grappling with a rapid and alarming surge in overweight and obesity across all age groups. This shift is so pronounced that, as UNICEF’s global report notes, obesity has now surpassed underweight as the most common form of malnutrition among school-aged children and adolescents worldwide—a trend acutely felt in India.

The data paints a disturbing picture. Between 2005 and 2021, the prevalence of overweight in Indian children under five rose by 127%. Even more dramatically, obesity among adolescent boys skyrocketed by 288%. This is not an isolated issue but a nationwide health emergency, with adult obesity rates also doubling. By 2030, India is projected to be home to over 27 million obese children and adolescents, accounting for a staggering 11% of the global burden.

Speaking at the media roundtable, Marie-Claude Desilets, Chief, Nutrition, UNICEF India, said, “With this high level of media exposure and easy access to unhealthy food, India is also following the same global trend with rapid rise in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity. The country is beginning to face the triple burden of malnutrition — stunting & wasting, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity — often coexisting in the same family or even the same person. India has a unique opportunity to act now to prevent overweight and obesity in children.”

The Drivers: A perfect storm of ultra-processed foods and aggressive marketing

This epidemic is fuelled by a dramatic dietary shift. The consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) in India exploded from $900 million in 2006 to $37.9 billion in 2019, growing at over 33% annually. Aggressive, targeted marketing—especially on the social media platforms frequented by youth—is a primary driver. A UNICEF U-Report poll found that 75% of young people in India see ads for sugary drinks and fast food weekly, with over half agreeing these ads make them want to buy the products.

This unhealthy food environment, combined with factors like inadequate breastfeeding, low physical activity, and increased screen time, is creating a triple burden of malnutrition where undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity often coexist within the same family.

The Cost and The Call to Action

The economic implications are severe. Obesity-related costs were estimated at nearly $29 billion in 2019 (1% of India’s GDP) and are projected to reach $839 billion by 2060. The human cost is higher, locking millions into a lifetime of increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

While the Government of India has launched initiatives like the Eat Right India campaign and restricted trans-fats, experts from the Let’s Fix Our Food consortium, including UNICEF and ICMR-NIN, urge stronger measures. These include implementing health taxes on sugary drinks and junk food, introducing mandatory front-of-package warning labels, and strictly regulating the marketing of unhealthy foods to children. Without this urgent, multi-sectoral action, India risks reversing its hard-won public health gains and jeopardizing the future of its youngest generation.

The story of childhood obesity is no longer a tale of wealth and indulgence in the Global North. It is a story of corporate power, market expansion, and the exploitation of vulnerability on a global scale. The UNICEF report makes it irrefutably clear that the same forces that contributed to health crises in rich countries are now actively exporting that crisis to the world’s most susceptible populations.

Addressing this challenge requires a fundamental reframing. We must stop seeing childhood obesity as a personal failing and recognize it for what it is: a direct consequence of a poorly regulated global food system that prioritizes profit over health. The fight against childhood obesity is now a global fight—one that demands urgent, coordinated, and courageous action from governments, civil society, and international organizations to ensure that every child, everywhere, has the right to a healthy diet and a healthy future.