New Canadian research suggests putting on weight could present potentially more serious problems for people of South Asian origin compared with other populations.
The findings may help explain why South Asians, Canada’s largest visible minority population, are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than white populations, even if they have similar body mass indexes.
Researchers discovered that South Asian people don’t have as much room under the skin as white people and therefore store more fat inside the abdomen and in organs, such as the liver or even the heart, which can create metabolic problems and increase the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes, stroke or cardiovascular disease.
“This means, that for the same level of BMI, South Asians are much more likely to develop diabetes or heart disease,” Arya Sharma, director of the Canadian Obesity Network, chair of obesity research and management at the University of Alberta and study co-author said in an e-mail.
But the study, published Thursday in the journal Public Library of Science ONE, also underscores how much remains unknown about why people who originate from the Indian subcontinent seem to be at greater risk for a host of health problems and the urgent need for more research.
“It’s the major health concern of South Asians globally as well as in Canada,” said Sonia Anand, lead author of the study and professor of medicine and epidemiology at McMaster University in Hamilton.
Burning questions centre on what role genes and the environment play in contributing to the increased health risks.
“It’s still kind of a big open question,” Dr. Anand said.
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