Health Consciousness and Fast Foods - A Study Among College Students in Lunglei Town, Mizoram
Health Consciousness and Fast Foods - A Study Among College Students in Lunglei Town, Mizoram
Health Consciousness and Fast Foods - A Study Among College Students in Lunglei Town, Mizoram
in/
Abstract
Fast foods are popular among young generation due to modernisation and
globalisation. Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available
alternatives to home cooked food. Fast foods containing high level of sugar
and fat are unhealthy and addiction to fast foods would lead to obesity and
other human diseases. This article is aimed at understanding the health
consciousness of the college students about fast foods in Lunglei town in
Mizoram, a small state in North East India. The data were collected by
administering a structured questionnaire from the sample of 150 college
students. The sample was drawn equally from three colleges in Lunglei town.
Only around 23 per cent of the respondents were conscious about their health
while consuming fast foods. It is also found that as customers, the college
students under the study were not taking the required precaution in knowing
the product information while buying junk foods and instant foods. This
article suggests the health organisations, NGOs, and educational institutions
have a responsibility to create more awareness among the people about the
adverse impact of consumption of fast foods on health through public
relations, publicity, and public service campaigns. Further, there is a need to
create more awareness among the customers about the importance of reading
product information like nutritional value, ingredients, expiry date, health
claims etc. is required to ensure healthy eating habits.
Introduction
Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available alternatives to home
cooked food. Fast food is defined as a pre-packed meal, ready to eat food/convenience food
Email: nvrjyoti@rediffmail.com
Fast food culture is an emerging trend among the younger generation. The ready
availability, taste, low cost, marketing strategies and peer pressure make them popular with
children and adolescents (Kaushik et al., 2011). Consuming fast foods has become a recent
trend among upper society, teenagers and youth have also increased and the fast food has
won the palate of those groups (Ahmed et al., 2008).
Mizoram has a total area of 21,078 square kilometres. It is situated between Myanmar
and Bangladesh and has a strategic significance geographically and politically. The Mizo
people follow Christianity as their religion. The religion and the culture of Mizo people have
an impact on their food habits. Mizo people are also influenced by fast food culture and fast
food restaurants have been increasing in number in the state. Different varieties of fast foods
are available in these restaurants. The local restaurants provide fast foods of different kinds
such as chow, rice, soup, rolls, beverage, burgers, and so on. Mizo people consume junk
foods and instant foods which are available from shops. Some of the popular brands of junk
foods which are very commonly available in Mizoram include Lays, Kurkure, Coca Cola,
Fanta, Sprite, Frooti and Appy. Among children and college students in Mizoram, it is a
habit of consuming instant foods especially noodles such as Maggi, Wai Wai and Rum Pum.
Junk foods and instant foods are available in nook and corner all over the state.
A good number of studies have been carried out highlighting the health hazards as a
consequence of consumption of fast foods. Fast foods have high level of fat and sugars that
are not only unhealthy but addictive and that creates a vicious cycle making it hard for
children to choose healthy food. High content of trans-fat in commercially available fast
foods predispose children to risk of future heart diseases. Energy density of fast food is more
than twice the recommended daily allowance for children. Fast food intake leads to higher
proportion of calories being derived from total and saturated fat (Kaushik et al., 2011).
Consumption of fast food among children in the United States seems to have an
adverse effect on dietary quality in ways that plausibly could increase risk for obesity
(Bowman et al., 2011).Consumption of junk food amongst urban school going adolescents in
Jorhat district of Assam is highly prevalent. General awareness about ill effects of junk food
amongst the adolescent was average which warrant appropriate public health interventions
(Sahu and Das, 2018).
Over 42% of the respondents were not conscious of the health hazards as a
consequence of fast foods consumption and only about 23% of the respondents were
conscious about it. One-third of the respondents were not sure about its impact on health. In
other words, more than 76% of the respondents were not conscious about their health while
consuming fast foods available from college canteen and other restaurants.
Table 1: Are you conscious about your health while consuming fast foods?
Gender Yes No Can’t Say Total
Male 23 33 19 75
(30.67) (44.00) (25.33)
Female 12 31 31 74
(16.22) (41.89) (41.90)
Total 35 64 50 149
(23.48) (42.95) (33.56)
Note: 1. Figures in parentheses are percentages. 2. One female respondent is not in a habit of
consuming fast foods available from restaurants even though she likes to consume junk foods
and instant foods.
(Source: Field study)
Table 2: Have you ever faced any health problem after eating fast foods?
Gender Yes No Can’t Say Total
Male 6 56 13 75
(8.00) (74.67) (17.33)
Female 19 41 14 74
(25.67) (55.41) (18.92)
Total 25 97 27 149
(16.78) (65.10) (18.12)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentages
(Source: Field study)
Over 74% of male respondents did not face any health problem after consuming fast
foods. 8% of male respondents were facing some health problem after eating fast foods. Over
17% of male respondents were not sure about this. Among female respondents, around 55%
did not face any health problem after consuming fast foods. Over 25% of the female
respondents faced some health problem after consuming fast foods and over 18% of female
respondents were not sure about this. Overall, around 65% of the respondents did not face
any health problem. Around 16% of the respondents were facing some health problem and
Habit of reading product information on the packets before buying junk foods
Junk foods are energy dense foods with high sugar/fat/salt content and low nutrient
value in terms of protein, fibre, vitamin and mineral content (Kaushik et al 2011).In the
interest of customers, the Government of India had made it obligatory to furnish specific
information on the packages of food products. According to FSSAI, every packaged food
article for the domestic use has to be labelled in accordance to the related Indian Food Law
i.e. Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011. Product
information like nutritional values, ingredients, its manufacturer, expiry date, health claims
etc. should be displayed by the manufacturer on the packet of the product. In this connection,
it is attempted in the field study to know whether the respondents were in a habit of reading
such information while buying the junk food items. Table 3 indicates the habit of reading
product information on the packets of junk foods namely contents, date of manufacturing,
expiry date etc.
Over 86% of the respondents were not in the habit of reading the product information
relating to junk foods on a regular basis. However, over 70% of the respondents read it
sometimes‘. In other words, only about 13% of the respondents were in the habit of reading
product information related to junk food items. Though the college students are educated and
understand English language without difficulty, only about 13% of the respondents were in
the habit of reading product information on a regular basis. But the consuming public
includes a large number of customers who cannot read the English and such customers might
be consuming junk food items without having a proper knowledge of the contents of the
products, expiry date and the health risk involved.
Table 4: Are you in the habit of reading product information on the packets of instant foods?
Gender Sometimes Regularly Never Total
Male 58 7 7 72
(79.45) (9.95) (9.95)
Female 52 13 11 75
(68.00) (17.33) (14.67)
Total 109 20 18 147
(74.15) (13.61) (12.24)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentages. Three male respondents were not in a habit of
instant foods.
(Source: Field study)
Only over 13% of the respondents were in the habit of reading product information
relating to instant food items. Over 86% of the respondents were not in the habit of reading
product information relating to instant food items on a regular basis. However, over 74% of
the respondents read it sometimes.
Gender-wise, over 17% of female respondents and over 9% of male respondents were
in the habit of reading product information related to instant food items. It may be noted that
female respondents were more habitual in reading product information than their male
counterparts. In comparison to junk foods and instant foods, no significance difference is
found between the junk foods and instant foods in this regard as over 13% of the respondents
were in the habit of reading product information related to junk food items and instant food
items each. Further, it may be noted that female respondents were habitual more in reading
product information related to instant food items than junk foods.
Table 5: In your experience, have you ever faced any health problem after eating instant
foods?
Gender Yes No Can’t Say Total
Male 3 46 23 72
(4.17) (63.89) (32.39)
Female 7 50 18 75
(9.33) (66.67) (24.00)
Total 10 96 41 147
(6.80) (65.31) (27.89)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentages
(Source: Field study)
In May 2015, Food Safety Regulators from Barabanki, a district in Uttar Pradesh
reported that samples of Maggi 2 Minute Noodles had unexpectedly high levels of
monosodium glutamate, as well as up to 17 times the permissible limit of lead. This finding
led to multiple market withdrawals and investigations in India and beyond. On 6th June,
2015, the Central Government of India banned nationwide sales of Maggi noodles for an
indefinite period. Due to the issue of banning Maggi noodles in India during June-August,
2015, Nestle India, which follows a January-December financial year, reported decline of
17.2% in its net sales for the year ended December, 2015. Net profit for the year fell to Rs.
563crore, from Rs. 1,185 crore in the previous year. Subsequently, in August, tests performed
by the US health regulator FDA showed no dangerous lead levels in the products. On 13
August 2015, the nationwide ban was struck down by the Bombay High Court.
In this connection, it is attempted in the field study to know whether the respondents
were aware of the issue of banning Maggi noodles. Table 6 shows the number of college
students who were aware and not aware of the issue of banning Maggi noodles in the year of
Table 6: Are you aware of the issue of banning Maggi Noodles in the year 2015?
Gender Yes No Can’t Say Total
Male 53 12 7 72
(73.61) (16.67) (9.72)
Female 63 7 5 75
(84.00) (9.33) (6.67)
Total 116 19 12 147
(78.91) (12.93) (8.16)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentages. Three male respondents were not in the habit of
consuming instant foods, hence they were not covered
(Source: Field study)
Among male respondents, over 73% were aware of issue of banning Maggi noodles in
2015. Over 16% of male respondents were not aware of the issue of banning Maggi noodles.
Only around 9% of male respondents were not conscious about this issue. Among female
respondents, 84% were aware of the issue regarding banning Maggi noodles in 2015. Over
9% of female respondents did not know about this issue. Only around 6% of female
respondents were not conscious about the issue of banning Maggi Noodles in 2015. Overall
analysis indicates that female respondents (84%) were more aware of the issue of banning
Maggi noodles than their male counterparts (73%).
In connection of Maggi noodles issue, the respondents were asked whether they
stopped buying Maggi noodles after the issue of controversy. Table 7 indicates the number of
respondents who have stopped or not stopped buying Maggi noodles on health grounds after
knowing the issue of banning Maggi noodles.
Table 7: Have you stopped buying Maggi noodles after the controversy?
Gender Yes No Can’t Say Total
Male 28 29 15 72
(38.89) (40.27) (20.83)
Female 26 39 10 75
(34.67) (52.00) (13.33)
Total 54 68 25 147
(36.73) (46.26) (17.01)
(Source: Field study)
Over 36 % of the respondents were stopped buying Maggi noodles on health grounds
after knowing the issue of banning Maggi noodles. Over 46% of the respondents were not
stopped buying Maggi noodles after knowing the issue. Only around 20% of the respondents
were not sure of it.
Conclusion
The study revealed that over 16% of the respondents were facing health problem after
consuming fast foods. Consumption of fast foods might not cause health problems promptly.
However, Fast foods are often high in energy and fat and also often contain a significant
amount of saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium (Brown et al., 1998; Paeratakul et al., 2003),
and frequent consumption of fast food meals may lead to the overconsumption of calories,
saturated fat, sugar, and sodium, weight gain, and obesity (Rosenheck, 2008).
Overconsumption of fast foods can lead to further complications such as diabetes, which is a
chronic disease and is associated with other health problems such as heart disease, stroke,
kidney failure, and diabetes (Stefanik, 2013). The present study indicated that three-fourth
respondents were not conscious about their health while consuming fast foods. Besides, the
study found that male respondents were more conscious about their health than their female
counterparts. In this regard, female education is more important as they tend to cook fast
foods as part of their daily habits. Eventually, that would affect their health as well as the
health of other family members. Over 86% of the respondents were aware of banning Maggi
noodles in 2015. However, only around 36% of the respondents were stop buying Maggi
noodles. This indicated that almost two-third of the respondents were not conscious about
their health regarding Maggi noodles which were banned due to high level of its containing
monosodium glutamate and lead.
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market-share-nestle-india-cmd-117012800768_1.html accessed on 12.05.2017