HYDERABAD: Amid growing exposure of Indian adolescents to ultra-processed foods and aggressive marketing of high-fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products, researchers at the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) have developed and validated the country’s first comprehensive tool to assess nutrition and food literacy among adolescents. The study introduces the Indian Nutrition and Food Literacy Tool (INFOLIT), designed for adolescents aged 13–15 years. Researchers said the tool addresses a critical public health gap by assessing the skills needed to apply nutrition knowledge to everyday food choices. The study, conducted in Hyderabad among middle-income school-going adolescents, followed a rigorous five-phase mixed-methods design. Psychometric testing among 400 adolescents evaluated item difficulty, discrimination and internal consistency.

Source: Indian Express January 14, 2026 03:42 UTC