‘We should change ourselves, but we can’t’: accounts of food and eating practices amongst British Pakistanis and Indians with type 2 diabetes

Objective(s). To look at food and eating practices from the perspectives of Pakistanis and Indians with type 2 diabetes, their perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to dietary change, and the social and cultural factors informing their accounts.

Method. Qualitative, interview study involving 23 Pakistanis and nine Indians with type 2 diabetes. Respondents were interviewed in their first language (Punjabi or English) by a bilingual researcher. Data collection and analysis took place concurrently with issues identified in early interviews being used to inform areas of investigation in later ones.

Results. Despite considerable diversity in the dietary advice received, respondents offered similar accounts of their food and eating practices following diagnosis. Most had continued to consume South Asian foods, especially in the evenings, despite their perceived concerns that these foods could be 'dangerous' and detrimental to their diabetes control. Respondents described such foods as 'strength-giving', and highlighted a cultural expectation to participate in acts of commensality with family/community members. Male respondents often reported limited input into food preparation. Many respondents attempted to balance the perceived risks of eating South Asian foodstuffs against those of alienating themselves from their culture and community by eating such foods in smaller amounts. This strategy could lead to a lack of satiation and is not recommended in current dietary guidelines.

Conclusions. Perceptions that South Asian foodstuffs necessarily comprise 'risky' options need to be tackled amongst patients and possibly their healthcare providers. To enable Indians and Pakistanis to manage their diabetes and identity simultaneously, guidelines should promote changes which work with their current food practices and preferences; specifically through lower fat recipes for commonly consumed dishes. Information and advice should be targeted at those responsible for food preparation, not just the person with diabetes. Community initiatives, emphasising the importance of healthy eating, are also needed.

Higher leptin levels in Asian Indians than Creoles and Europids : a potential explanation for increased metabolic risk

Background and purpose: Leptin predicts cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, diseases to which Asian Indians are highly susceptible. As a risk marker, leptin’s intra-individual and seasonal stability is unstudied and only small studies have compared leptin levels in Asian Indians with other populations. The aim of this study was to explore ethnicity related differences in leptin levels and its intra-individual and seasonal stability.

Methods: Leptin and anthropometric data from the northern Sweden MONICA (3513 Europids) and the Mauritius Non-communicable Disease (2480 Asian Indians and Creoles) studies were used. In both studies men and women, 25- to 74-year old, participated in both an initial population survey and a follow-up after 5–13 years. For the analysis of seasonal leptin variation, a subset of 1780 participants, 30- to 60-year old, in the Vasterbotten Intervention Project was used.

Results: Asian Indian men and women had higher levels of leptin, leptin per body mass index (BMI) unit (leptin/BMI) or per cm in waist circumference (WC; leptin/waist) than Creoles and Europids when adjusted for BMI (all P<0.0005) or WC (all P<0.005). In men, Creoles had higher leptin, leptin/BMI and leptin/waist than Europids when adjusted for BMI or WC (all P<0.0005). In women, Creoles had higher leptin/BMI and leptin/waist than Europids only when adjusted for WC (P<0.0005). Asian Indian ethnicity in both sexes, and Creole ethnicity in men, was independently associated with high leptin levels. The intra-class correlation for leptin was similar (0.6–0.7), independently of sex, ethnicity or follow-up time. No seasonal variation in leptin levels was seen.

Conclusion: Asian Indians have higher levels of leptin, leptin/BMI and leptin/waist than Creoles and Europids. Leptin has a high intra-individual stability and seasonal leptin variation does not appear to explain the ethnic differences observed here.

Risk factors for coronary heart disease among Asian Indians living in Australia

The aim of this study was to assess the coronary heart disease risk factors in the Asian Indian community living in a large city in Australia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Australia India Friendship Fair in 2010. All people of Asian Indian descent who attended the Fair and visited the health promotion stall were eligible to participate in the study if they self-identified as of Asian Indian origin, were aged between 18 and 80 years, and were able to speak English. Blood pressure, blood glucose, waist circumference, height, and weight were measured by a health professional. Smoking, cholesterol levels, and physical activity status were obtained through self-reports. Data were analyzed for 169 participants. More than a third of the participants under the age of 65 years had high blood pressure. Prevalence of diabetes (16%) and obesity (61%) was significantly higher compared with the national average. Ten women identified themselves as smokers. Physical activity patterns were similar to that of the wider Australian population. The study has provided a platform for raising awareness among nurses and promoting advocacy on the cardiovascular risk among Asian Indians. Strategies involving Asian Indian nurses and other Asian Indian health professionals as well as support from the private and public sectors can assist in the reduction of the coronary heart disease risk factors among this extremely susceptible population.

Mixed feelings: Anglo-Indians and the distribution of the sensible in Indian cinema

Hollywood, and various regional cinemas in India typically represent Mixed-Race Anglo-Indians as a degenerate community marked by lax morals, alcoholism, and indolence. These stereotypical tropes typically generate indignant protests from members of this miniscule Indian community, and debates about the representation of Anglo-Indians focus on the injustices propagated by such stereotypes. This paper rethinks Anglo-Indian representation in cinema by drawing on Jacques Rancière’s concept of ‘the distribution of the sensible,’ which provides a cartography for understanding how one’s various identity assignations structure sensory experience. In other words those who are marginalized have ways of seeing and hearing from those occupy normative or dominant subject positions, and these differences are best approached in terms of neo-Kantian aesthetic judgment. It also argues, with Rancière, that ‘inequality’ is built into the distribution of the sensible. Drawing on a number of Indian and Hollywood films — including Aparna Sen’s 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) Anjan Dutt’s Bada Din (1998) Ismail Merchant’s Cotton Mary (2000), Bow Barracks Forever (2004) and Harry McClure’s Going Away (2013) — the paper contends that Rancière’s ‘distribution of the sensible’ allows us to think through a politics that is connected to ‘aesthetic judgement’ as well as a politics of differentiation that informs our understanding of the function of minoritarian characters in narrative cinema.

Occurrence of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in Brazilian indians from Umutina Reservation, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Antimalarial use of volatile oil from leaves of Virola surinamensis (Rol.) Warb. by Waiapi Amazon Indians

The Amazon Indians Waiapi living in the West of Amapa State of Brazil, treat malaria with an inhalation of vapor obtained from leaves of Viola surinamensis. The essential oil obtained from adult and plantlet leaves was analyzed by GC/MS and 11 monoterpenes, 11 sesquiterpenes and three phenylpropanoids were identified. Plantlet essential oil caused 100% of growth inhibition after 48 h in the development of the young trophozoite to schizont stage and the sesquiterpene nerolidol (100 mu g/ml) was identified as one of the active constituents (100% of growth inhibition was obtained). In addition, examination of [(UC)-C-14]-glucose incorporation showed that activity of nerolidol is related to the inhibition of glycoprotein biosynthesis. (C) 1999 Elsevier B.V. Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Morphology and incidence of torus palatinus and mandibularis in Brazilian Indians

The incidence and morphology of torus platinus and mandibularis was verified in 200 Indians, residents of two Brazilian Indian Reserves in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. A low incidence of both types of exostoses was observed, with torus palatinus occurring more frequently than mandibularis. These structures did not occur in individuals less than 10 years of age. Flattened torus palatinus predominated in relation to the other forms.

Re-evaluation of antibiotic and mercury resistance in Escherichia coli populations isolated in 1978 from Amazonian rubber tree tappers and Indians

A study was carried out to assess the stability of antimicrobial susceptibility of wild isolates upon long-term storage using fifty-three Escherichia coli strains isolated in 1978 from feces of healthy children from the Amazon region in Brazil, exposed to low levels of antimicrobial agents, and examined for resistance to mercury and four antibiotics. All of the strains were kept in Lignieres medium at room temperature and were transferred to fresh media four times during this period. Thirty-five out of the 53 strains analyzed in 1978 were viable. Upon recovery, antibiotic and mercury resistance was estimated. All of the 35 strains maintained their original phenotype in a stable fashion, except for one multiresistant strain which became susceptible to kanamycin. Fifty-four percent of the strains exhibited a resistance phenotype, among which 47% had conjugative plasmids.

Genome-Wide Analysis in Brazilian Xavante Indians Reveals Low Degree of Admixture

Characterization of population genetic variation and structure can be used as tools for research in human genetics and population isolates are of great interest. The aim of the present study was to characterize the genetic structure of Xavante Indians and compare it with other populations. The Xavante, an indigenous population living in Brazilian Central Plateau, is one of the largest native groups in Brazil. A subset of 53 unrelated subjects was selected from the initial sample of 300 Xavante Indians. Using 86,197 markers, Xavante were compared with all populations of HapMap Phase III and HGDP-CEPH projects and with a Southeast Brazilian population sample to establish its population structure. Principal Components Analysis showed that the Xavante Indians are concentrated in the Amerindian axis near other populations of known Amerindian ancestry such as Karitiana, Pima, Surui and Maya and a low degree of genetic admixture was observed. This is consistent with the historical records of bottlenecks experience and cultural isolation. By calculating pair-wise F-st statistics we characterized the genetic differentiation between Xavante Indians and representative populations of the HapMap and from HGDP-CEPH project. We found that the genetic differentiation between Xavante Indians and populations of Ameridian, Asian, European, and African ancestry increased progressively. Our results indicate that the Xavante is a population that remained genetically isolated over the past decades and can offer advantages for genome-wide mapping studies of inherited disorders.

Assessing the relationship between obesity and type II diabetes among South Asian Indians in Houston A population based study

Objective: My study aimed at determining the association between obesity and diabetes prevalence in South Asian Indian immigrants in Houston, Texas. To also compare the prevalence odds of diabetes given obesity, using WHO-BMI criteria and recommended Asian ethnic-specific BMI criteria for obesity, as well as using WHO-standard waist circumference criteria and ethnic-specific criteria for abdominal obesity, across gender and age, in this population. ^ Methods: My study was a secondary data analysis based on a cross-sectional study carried out on adult South Asian Indians who attended a local community health fair in Houston, in 2007. They recruited 213 voluntary, eligible, South Asian Indian participants aged between 18 to 79 years. Self reported history of Diabetes was obtained and height, weight, waist and hip circumference were measured. I classified BMI based on WHO-standard and ethnic-specific criteria, according to gender and age groups of 18–35 years, 36–64 years and 65 years and over. Waist circumference was also classified based on WHO-standard NCEP criteria and currently recommended ethnic-specific IDF criteria and analysis was done stratifying by gender and age groups. ^ Results: The prevalence of diabetes in this population was 14.6%, significantly higher in older age groups (25.8%) and males (19.2%). The prevalence of DM was statistically similar in individuals who were overweight/obese compared to those not overweight/obese, however in overweight/obese individuals, there was a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of DM between WHO and ethnic-specific criteria for both BMI and waist circumference. In older adults and in males, ethnic-specific criteria identified significantly more as overweight/obese compared to WHO-standard criteria. ^ Conclusions: Ethnic-specific criteria for both BMI and waist circumference give a better estimate for obesity in this South Asian Indian population. Diabetes is highly prevalent in migrant South Asian Indians even at low BMI or waist circumference levels and significantly more in males and older age groups, hence adequate awareness should be created for early prevention and intervention.^