Food and Nutrition

The food system begins and ends with health and nutrition. Advances in the health sciences, including genomics and stem cell biology, continue to reinforce the principle that nutritious food is essential for theachievement of full physical and cognitive potential for all individuals and populations and for sustaining health through the aging process. The Indian economy has recently grown at historically unprecedented rates and is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Real GDP per head grew at 3.95% a year from 1980 to 2005, and at 5.4% a year from 2000 to 2005. Real per capita consumption has also grown rapidly, at 2.2% a year in the 1980s, at 2.5% a year in the 1990s, and at 3.9% a year from 2000 to 2005.