kolkata childhood obesity is a major health challenge in indian metros including kolkata according to us nutrition expert sam rehnborg in kolkata to launch a product as the president of nutrilite health institute on tuesday rehnborg said sugar intake among children and youngsters in urban india was frighteningly high he said that apart from obesity it was leading to a range of disorders while rural india was still deprived of basic nutrition sugar has to be taken out of your diet that is the bottom line it is there in a disguised form in almost every packaged and processed food that you consume and it a bigger threat than fat so the best thing to do is to stay away from processed food he said rehnborg pointed out that in the us consumers were moving away from processed food to stay healthy and were even exercising more as in the us people in indian cities too are eating more and doing nothing to burn the extra calories the idea is to take charge of your life a balanced diet avoid overeating and focus on physical activities there is no substitute for a healthy lifestyle but it seems to be missing in kolkata the last time i was here in 1964 i did not see so many pot bellies said the nutrition expert in his speech rehnborg referred to the whos asian phytonutrient report a global report that informs the public about the intake of fruits and vegetables their availability and effects on consumers health rehnborg said the minimum prescribed nutrition levels were not met in india as per the who recommendation you must have at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day we have no specific figures for india but in asia 7580 of the population was not getting it in india it would be around 80 which is bad while the poor in india were not consuming enough protein the middleclass and upperclass in indian cities were taking more carbohydrates and fat than necessary this has to be turned around if health issues are to be avoided he said launching an allplant protein powder rehnborg said most indians were not at a disadvantage by being vegetarians our plantbased protein powder has all the essential amino acids that people need to maintain their health claimed rehnborg