72% of kids of construction workers overweight; study blames it on junk food

In contrast to the general perception that the children of construction workers are mostly malnourished, a survey by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) has shown that 71.8% of such kids are overweight, indicating excessive consumption of junk and processed food.

The survey of nutritional and educational status of migrant construction workers’ children, which studied 277 kids from across Bengaluru, also observed stunted growth among 11.2% of them.

While stunting refers to chronic undernutrition, the higher incidence of being overweight challenges the existing notion wherein malnutrition is always used in connection with undernutrition, the paper noted.

The overweight children were termed to be facing a double burden of malnutrition, indicating that their worker parents are largely unaware of the ill-effects of such food.

“While many of the workers know that they should send the children to schools and anganwadis, awareness about their nutritional requirements is low. Many construction workers said that they get chips, biscuits, and other readymade foods when the children are adamant and demand it,” said Dr Chennamma Kambar, one of the authors of the paper published by the ISEC based on the survey.

These children may face medical complications in the future if the practices are not rectified. “Being overweight could eventually lead to obesity, and depending on what kind of nutrition was lacking, the double burden of malnutrition could result in various medical conditions from underdevelopment of cognitive skills in children to development of type 2 diabetes,” said Dr Malini Tantri, co-author of the paper. Dr S Manasi (Associate Professor) and Dr N Latha (Research Associate) were also a part of the study.

Kambar said that there was a need to create awareness among the group to prevent such conditions.

The nutrition status was determined based on the anthropometric measures, which highlight height for age, weight for height, and weight for age.

The survey also revealed that 98% of the workers were not enrolled with the Building and Other Construction Workers’ (BOCW) association and were unaware of most of the government benefits available to them.

“In areas where construction workers had registered with the BOCW, it was mostly because of the pursuant support by NGOs. However, in many cases, the NGOs said that even those registered could not avail of the benefits completely since they keep changing their phone numbers when they migrate,” Dr Manasi explained.

“Lack of awareness needs to be addressed immediately to improve the working and living conditions of construction workers,” the paper suggested.

According to an estimate, more than 15 lakh people from various states across the country migrate to Karnataka, especially to Bengaluru, every year in search of employment opportunities.

What they eat:

*Chips
*Biscuits
*Readymade foods
*Bun and bread
*Sweets