What You Eat Today May Shape the Health of Tomorrow

The question we should ask next

When we discuss obesity, the conversation usually begins with: “How much does this child weigh?”

But perhaps we should also ask: “What kind of food environment are we creating around this child?”

And eventually: “What kind of metabolic health will this child carry into adulthood?”

Obesity is not simply a matter of appearance or willpower. The World Health Organization describes it as a chronic, complex disease involving biological, behavioural, environmental and social factors.

A child’s choices are influenced by what is available at school, what is advertised, what the family eats, what their friends eat and what society considers normal.

Food policy matters because of all of this.

And then comes the conversation we rarely connect to it: Fertility

We often treat childhood obesity, adult metabolic health and fertility as completely separate subjects.

They are not completely separate.

Research has found associations between obesity and longer time to pregnancy and infertility in women.

The WHO also recognises obesity among lifestyle-related factors associated with infertility in both women and men.

This doesn’t mean eating one particular food causes infertility, nor that body weight determines whether someone will become a parent.

Fertility is influenced by many factors — age, genetics, reproductive disorders, male factors, female factors, environmental exposures and many others.

But metabolic health is one piece of the larger picture.

And that piece deserves attention before a couple starts trying to conceive.

Perhaps preconception care needs to start much earlier

We have become accustomed to the idea that pregnancy care begins when a woman sees two lines on a pregnancy test.

But biologically, preparation for pregnancy does not need to begin there.

The WHO describes preconception care as an important part of improving maternal and child health, with interventions before pregnancy capable of improving health and subsequent pregnancy outcomes.

The Indian Academy of Pediatrics’ 2024 consensus guidelines on preconception care similarly emphasise the preconception period as an important opportunity to support healthy development, and recommend attention to metabolic health, nutrition, lifestyle, mental health and other risk factors.

So perhaps our question should change from “What should a pregnant woman eat?” to “How are we preparing both parents before conception?”

This is where an Indian wisdom tradition deserves a serious conversation

Ayurveda has discussed preparation for healthy progeny for centuries.

Classical Ayurvedic literature does not reduce conception to one organ or one moment. It discusses multiple factors associated with the formation and development of the fetus, including maternal and paternal contributions, nutrition, suitability and psychological dimensions.

Ayurveda also describes Garbhini Paricharya — care of the pregnant woman through appropriate diet and lifestyle — and places importance on care beginning around conception and continuing throughout pregnancy.

This is one reason I believe Garbhasanskar deserves a more nuanced conversation.

Not: “Play music to the womb and create a genius baby.”

But rather: “How can we thoughtfully prepare parents, support maternal wellbeing, encourage healthy routines and create a positive prenatal environment?”

That is a much more meaningful question.

And it is also a question that can be examined scientifically — practice by practice, claim by claim.

Tradition should not be blindly accepted. Nor should it be blindly dismissed.

We should not label every traditional practice as scientifically proven simply because it is ancient.

At the same time, we should not dismiss an entire traditional framework without studying the principles within it.

That middle path is where meaningful healthcare innovation can happen.

1. Ayurveda can contribute its traditional framework around ahara, vihara, daily routine and preparation for conception.
2. Yoga can contribute appropriately prescribed movement, breathing, relaxation and mind-body practices.
3. Modern medicine provides screening, diagnosis, risk management and evidence-based treatment.
4. Nutrition science helps us understand dietary adequacy, metabolic health and healthy food environments.
5. Public health can change the environments in which families and children make everyday choices.

The future need not be Ayurveda versus modern medicine. It can be evidence, tradition and responsible integration working together.

From the school canteen to the delivery room

This is the connection I want us to think about.

A child learns what “normal food” looks like long before they become a parent.

Their relationship with food develops through family, school, culture, advertising and environment.

Their metabolic health develops over years.

And eventually, some of these health factors may become relevant when that child becomes an adult planning a family.

So when Maharashtra changes what is sold around schools, we should not see it merely as a ban on samosas or cold drinks.

We can see it as one small part of a much larger public-health question:

What kind of health are we building into the next generation?

What can we actually do?

We don’t need fear-based parenting. We don’t need to make children feel guilty about food. We don’t need unrealistic diets. We need better environments and better education.

1. Make healthy food normal — At home and in schools, nutritious traditional foods should be accessible, affordable and appealing.
2. Teach food literacy early — Children should understand, not fear, what they eat and why dietary patterns matter.
3. Start preconception conversations earlier — Future parents need education about nutrition, physical activity, metabolic health, sleep, mental wellbeing and reproductive health before pregnancy.
4. Support both partners — Preconception health should not become another responsibility placed only on women.
5. Integrate responsibly — Ayurveda, Yoga and Garbhasanskar can contribute where appropriate, while medical screening and treatment remain essential.

The bigger idea

We spend enormous amounts of money treating obesity, diabetes, PCOS, infertility and other chronic health problems after they appear.

Perhaps prevention needs to move further upstream. Before the diagnosis. Before the pregnancy. Before adulthood. Sometimes even before a child has the ability to choose what goes on their plate. Because the most important health intervention may not always happen inside a hospital.

It may happen at:

a kitchen table,
a school canteen,
a family conversation,
or a preconception consultation.

And perhaps this is the real message behind today’s food debate:

“What we eat today doesn’t determine our future — but our everyday food environment can help shape it.”

That is why the conversation about food is also a conversation about metabolic health, reproductive health and the health of generations to come.

A question for you

Should preconception health education begin much earlier — perhaps in schools and young-adult health education — rather than only when a couple decides to have a baby?

I would genuinely like to hear from doctors, nutritionists, educators, parents and policymakers.

What would you change first?