Basanta Kumar Kar’s new book explores malnutrition beyond food, examining nutrition, public health, food systems, misinformation and India’s challenges
Sourav Prakash Das
Malnutrition is no longer a crisis that can be understood simply through the absence of food. While hunger and undernutrition remain major concerns, growing levels of micronutrient deficiencies, obesity and diet-related health problems have added new dimensions to the global nutrition challenge. The issue cuts across income groups and geographies, affecting health, learning, productivity and the wellbeing of future generations.
Against this backdrop, renowned nutrition expert Basanta Kumar Kar’s forthcoming book, Malnutrition: Fed or Misled? The Truth Beyond Food, examines how malnutrition extends beyond food scarcity and explores the factors that shape what people eat, how they access nutrition and the outcomes that follow.
In the book, Kar, popularly known as the ‘Nutrition Man of India’, examines malnutrition through the lenses of public health, science, policy, history and grassroots experiences. He explores undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies alongside obesity and other forms of malnutrition that can persist despite adequate food availability.
The book explores how nutrition outcomes are shaped not only by diets but also by food systems, sanitation, infections, agriculture, climate change, marketing and nutrition misinformation. It also examines the wider consequences of malnutrition on health, learning, productivity, economies and future generations.
Kar draws on decades of professional experience in food and nutrition programmes across South and Southeast Asia, as well as advisory work in Africa. He has also contributed to India’s POSHAN Abhiyan and has received the Global Nutrition Leadership Award.
According to Kar, the book is the outcome of his lifelong work on malnutrition and six years of research and writing. It combines scientific evidence with personal experiences from Odisha, grassroots perspectives and accounts from marginalised communities, particularly women and girls across different Indian states.
The book also traces more than 300 years of nutrition history in the Indian subcontinent, including the colonial period, while placing India’s nutritional challenges and culinary traditions within a global context.
“Good nutrition matters because good life matters,” said Dr Rajendra Singh, Waterman of India and Ramon Magsaysay Award laureate, describing the book as an effort to bridge ancient Indian dietary wisdom and modern nutritional science.
Other experts, including former FAO nutritionist Dr Lalita Bhattacharjee, Cornell University adjunct professor Dr Purvi Mehta and former ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition scientist Dr Avula Laxmaiah, have also praised the book for its evidence-based approach and its examination of nutrition beyond conventional food-centric narratives.
The book focuses on the broader goal of addressing all forms of malnutrition, in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2, Target 2.2, which calls for ending malnutrition in all its forms.
Kar’s central argument is that tackling the problem requires not only improving food access but also addressing the wider systems that determine how people eat, live and access nutrition.
For readers interested in looking beyond familiar assumptions about food and nutrition, Malnutrition: Fed or Misled? The Truth Beyond Food offers an opportunity to explore the questions, evidence and experiences behind one of the world’s most complex public health challenges.
The book is available for readers who wish to discover the story beyond the plate – https://www.amazon.in/MALNUTRITION
(The writer is a communications professional specializing in content writing, digital journalism, and public relations. Views expressed are personal.)