India, 1961-2003: Abastecimiento alimentario, consumo de alimentos y nutrición

in this article, the authors propose and develop a method to evaluate food supply, food consumption and nutrition in india, along the 1961-2003 period. data are based on food consumption availability (fca) of food and beverages, food energy and macronutrients published every year by fao. main results can be summarized as follows: 1) an increase in food availability values in 9 (soy bean oil, palm oil, butter, wheat, dairy products, rapeseed oil, mustard oil, maize, rice, sugar and honey) of the 13 main food groups which supply energy for the average indian inhabitant; such increases, except for palm oil case, were induced by domestic production rise; 2) national agro-food producers of those groups were devoted to supply the？ domestic market, instead of exporting; 3) in each of 14 food groups studied (measured in kg/person/year) the authors found that 5 of them grew more than two-fold (eggs, fish and seafood, visible fats, roots and？ tubers, and spices), while 5 groups almost doubled their values (stimulants, vegetables and dairy products); 4) in energy, as well as in proteins and fats, more than 80% of per capita food availability concentrated in 5 of 14 food groups; 5) in energy, these groups were cereals, visible fats, sugar and honey, pulses, and dairy products; 6) in proteins, these groups were cereals, dairy products, and pulses; 7) in lipids, visible fats, cereals, dairy products, and nuts and oilseeds; 8) foods of vegetal origin prevailed in per capita fca of food energy (more than 92%), proteins (more than 82%) and lipids (more than 73%); 9) proteins contributed between 9 and 10% of per capita fca of food energy; lipids, between 13%, and carbohydrates, between 71% y 77%; 10) between 1970 and 2004, the undernourished prevalence index dropped from 39% to 21%; however, undernourished population grew from 218 to 231 millions.