What’s really inside the packet

Arun Gupta

TAKE a shiny packet of sweet or spicy snacks, or pour out a sugary drink, and you’ll often see smiling cartoons, bright colours, and catchy promises of “energy,” “strength”, “real”, or “natural”. But inside, what you get is a cocktail of sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, artificial colours and chemical additives. These products are engineered in factories to make us crave more. These are often of little or no nutritional value.

Welcome to the world of junk food, technically referred to as ultra-processed food products (UPFs) — flooding Indian markets and shaping the diets of our youngest generation.

As India grapples with rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer at younger ages, we must ask ourselves: are we consuming food that nourishes or products that silently harm?

Recently, the Supreme Court directed the government to finalise front-of-pack food labelling regulations within three months. The court expressed concern that consumers, especially parents, have no real information about what’s inside popular products like Kurkure or Maggi. This reflects a growing public health alarm.

What is junk food

Not all processing is harmful. In fact, we’ve been processing our food for centuries. Grinding grains into flour, heating, freezing, or pasteurising milk are all basic methods. Fermentation is used daily in Indian households.

But ultra-processed foods go much further. These are industrial formulations packed with artificial additives, preservatives, flavour enhancers, colours, and stabilisers. They are designed to be hyper-palatable, addictive, long-lasting, and profitable, but nutritionally hollow.

They are also aggressively marketed and advertised.

This reflects a growing corporate greed to maximise sales, even at the cost of public health. Common examples include chips, biscuits, instant noodles, soups, sugary drinks, fruit juices, flavoured yogurts, sweetened cereals, so-called ‘health’ bars, and similar products.

What makes them junk is not just what’s added, but also what’s missing — real fibre, protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Growing health risks

Regular consumption of these products is linked to serious health problems. India is already witnessing an annual junk food market growth of 13.3 per cent. A growing body of evidence links diets with over 10 per cent UPF content to obesity, type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, high blood pressure, chronic inflammation, heart disease, fatty liver disease, early puberty and even emerging links to Parkinson’s disease.

Expanding list

In India, cross-country surveys reveal alarming results: one in every four adults is overweight or obese, one in four is diabetic or pre-diabetic and one in three adults suffers from high blood pressure.

Packaged food products are major contributors to excessive sugar, salt, and fat intake — especially among children. Worse, they form habit loops. Once children acquire a taste for them, fresh, home-cooked food loses its appeal.

How brands mislead

Why are these harmful products still so popular? Why are we tempted to buy them — because of clever marketing and emotional manipulation.

Brands mislead you through claims like “baked, not fried” or “made with real fruit”, bright colours, cartoon characters, and school-themed packaging, images of fruit or milk, with phrases like “20 per cent protein” or “high in calcium”, while hiding sugar and fat content. Many brands have celebrities and sports icons endorsing their product.

These advertisements never tell you the truth — even the most basic facts like how much sugar, salt, or fat is inside.

The Supreme Court’s intervention reflects what public health experts have been saying for years: India needs bold, transparent labelling to help people make informed choices.

What you can do

– Ignore front-of-pack claims. Check the ingredient list and sugar/salt values on the back.

– If total sugar or saturated fat is above 10 per cent, it’s considered high. Sodium levels over 1 mg per kcal are also high.

– Avoid buying packaged food and drinks, especially the heavily advertised ones.

– Talk to children about the difference between real food and packaged food products.

– Prioritise home-cooked meals that include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, pulses, and nuts.

– Resist marketing traps. Just because something looks child-friendly doesn’t mean it’s child-safe.

– And most importantly, always ask yourself: “Packet ke andar kya hai?”

The right to know

The consumers have the right to know whether a packaged food product is high in sugar, salt, or fats. While companies argue that such information is printed on the back of a packet, people deserve to know it clearly, upfront, in simple terms, especially when buying food for children.

Let’s not be fooled by pretty packaging and clever ads and look beyond the wrapper — because what’s inside matters.

— The writer is a paediatrician and former member of PM’s Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges

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