Foodie Gujaratis love eating fat-rich diet, not fruit: Survey

Food-loving Gujarat loves fat and is not a big fan of fruits. It is also the least consumer of proteins in the country owing to its vegetarian diet. This was revealed by data collected by HealthifyMe, an Indian digital weight loss app that provides a host of fitness services.

Gujarat is one of the highest fat consumers in the country and a poor fruit-intaker as compared to the rest of the country. The result was collated from over 1 lakh users from across Gujarat with 1 million work out logs from several cities. The data also found that men consumed more protein in Gujarat due to their affinity for almonds, dal and milk while women in the state were at a higher risk of diabetes due to the high consumption of fat viz-a-viz men.

Gujarat came last among all the 27 surveyed states as far as energy from protein consumption was concerned while it ranked fourth after Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Haryana in fat consumption. Dr Hiren Patt and endocrinologists with Narayana Multispeciality Hospital who often ends up counselling his patients to control their fat intake in diet said the findings are not a surprise.

"Carbohydrates and fat figure heavily in the diet of people here. This is because the food habits are such not to mention that the cuisine often involves heavy use of oil. Moreover, people love food and they often eat out which also worsens the situation. Being a vegetarians state, the consumption of protein is very low," said Dr Patt.

He said it would not be a surprise if Gujarat has the highest per head oil consumption in the country. As far as fruit consumption is concerned, he said it was more a matter of inclination than money. "Even when there are fruit and vegetable consumption it is often garnished with something or the other that is not necessarily healthy," said Dr Patt.

The survey also found that traditional foods like Khakra emerged as the healthiest this year, while new age foods like Vada Pav, Pani Puri and Samosa in Gujarat's diet has added to the fat levels of the state.

Punita Mittal, head of Data Science, Healthifyme, said Gujarat needs to go "swadeshi" - increase yoga and eat more traditional foods and dairy. "With its predominant vegetarian population, Gujarat has always been low on protein consumption and high on sugar and fat. This year, however, saw a further decline making Gujarat the lowest consumers of protein in the country. Therefore, the state is at a high risk of diabetes and hypertension," said Mittal.