It s all about metabolism
asian Indian men, whether overweight or not, are at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases because their bodies metabolise fat like people who are obese. This is the finding of a study conducted by researchers from the us-based University of Texas (ut).
When people take in more calories than required, their extra calories are stored in adipose (fatty) tissue, causing the tissue to either overproduce or underproduce certain substances called cytokines. Such abnormal production levels are seen in individuals who are overweight or obese, and can result in insulin resistance, which is an associated risk for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
This same abnormal metabolism process can also occur in non-diabetic, healthy men native to the subcontinent of India, even in the absence of excessive body fat or abdominal obesity, the ut researchers report in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
They compared 79 lean Asian Indian men living in the us with 61 similarly built Caucasian males. "More than half of the Asian Indians showed abnormal production levels of cytokines, compared to less than 25 per cent of their white counterparts,' reveals Nicola Abate, the study's lead author. According to her, even a mild increase in weight could translate into a major problem. "The findings can also be extrapolated for other ethnic groups of the region,' she adds.
The researchers are now collaborating with scientists from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation of India to conduct a study aimed at crosschecking their findings.
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