SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
Cordially invites you to a talk on
MYSTERIES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES IN SOUTH ASIANS
Prof. K.M. Venkat Narayan
MD, MSc, MBA Director, Emory
Global Diabetes Research Centre & Director, Georgia Centre for Diabetes Translation Research
Date: 4th April 2017 (Tuesday)
Time: 11am
Venue: Amrita Devi Bishnoi Seminar Hall, SES.
Abstract: Type 2 diabetes is a pandemic, and people living in Asia or of Asian-descent living in other regions are at disproportionate risk of the disease. There is also considerable heterogeneity of diabetes risk across Asian populations. Notably, Asians are at risk at lower body mass index, and groups, such as South Asians are at higher risk than other Asian groups. To comprehensively win the war against diabetes requires concerted attention to prevention and expanding multiethnic global research to better inform population-level policies to curb diabetes, but also to better understand individual- and population-level variations in pathophysiology and phenotypes in Singapore and globally so that prevention and treatment can be tailored. For example, preliminary data show that thin people in Asian and African countries commonly experience type 2 diabetes. Global studies comparing these thin Asians with other ethnic groups indicate that type 2 diabetes may not be a single pathophysiological entity. One variant may represent the well-studied phenotype of poor insulin action (type 2 A) while a second may represent the grossly under-studied phenotype of poor insulin secretion (type 2 B). Understanding these differences is important, and has major implications for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment and highlights the mismatch between where diabetes burdens occur and where research happens. Correcting this imbalance will advance our knowledge and arsenal to win the global war against diabetes.
