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The fact that prevalence of heart disease is nearly invariant between Indians in India and Indians in the US suggests high heritability and raises the specter o

The fact that prevalence of heart disease is nearly invariant between Indians in India and Indians in the US suggests high heritability and raises the specter of a genetic effect. If it were purely cultural, one would expect Indians in the US to differ from Indians in India. In particular, over successive generations, the risk should approach that of the US as a whole. Since that is not seen (based on the data within this post), factors unrelated to culture / food / etc should be strongly considered as culprits, again, namely genetics.

bane 11y ago
The immigrant wave from India into the U.S. is fairly recent, and at least most of the Indians in my area still stick to the diets they knew growing up back home. It will take a couple more generations of cultural integration to be able to exclude diet and focus on genetics.
- raverbashing 11y ago
  I agree, most Indians seem to follow an indian diet mostly (read: go to Indian take-aways) I'd bet most don't do their own cooking.
- carbocation 11y ago
  As another example, in people of East Asian descent, people who follow East Asian customs get a different type of esophageal cancer from those who follow an American custom. These cancer patterns are behaviorally driven, and in this case a clear change can be seen from East Asian immigrants to the US who are generation 0 to those who are generation 1 and beyond. I would expect a similar model to hold here.
- known 11y ago
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-worlds-racist-countries-answers-surprise-you.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-wo...
ak39 11y ago
Right. Heritability may be a factor, but isn't the "Indian problem" more about body morphology than it is about something specific to the sub-continent gene affecting the heart directly? For example, ectomorphs (irrespective of ethnicity) are susceptible to the phenomenon, in bro-science parlance, called "skinny fat". That is, they look skinny everywhere (wrists, face, chest, calves) but the abdomen. Abdominal fat is the dangerous fat and it probably remains "unnoticed" in the skinny-fat group - until it is too late. Someone who packs fat in ample quantities everywhere is probably more likely to notice (or be noticed and informed about it) and then take corrective action.

bane 11y ago

The immigrant wave from India into the U.S. is fairly recent, and at least most of the Indians in my area still stick to the diets they knew growing up back home. It will take a couple more generations of cultural integration to be able to exclude diet and focus on genetics.

raverbashing 11y ago
I agree, most Indians seem to follow an indian diet mostly (read: go to Indian take-aways) I'd bet most don't do their own cooking.
carbocation 11y ago
As another example, in people of East Asian descent, people who follow East Asian customs get a different type of esophageal cancer from those who follow an American custom. These cancer patterns are behaviorally driven, and in this case a clear change can be seen from East Asian immigrants to the US who are generation 0 to those who are generation 1 and beyond. I would expect a similar model to hold here.
known 11y ago
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-worlds-racist-countries-answers-surprise-you.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-wo...

ak39 11y ago

Right. Heritability may be a factor, but isn't the "Indian problem" more about body morphology than it is about something specific to the sub-continent gene affecting the heart directly? For example, ectomorphs (irrespective of ethnicity) are susceptible to the phenomenon, in bro-science parlance, called "skinny fat". That is, they look skinny everywhere (wrists, face, chest, calves) but the abdomen. Abdominal fat is the dangerous fat and it probably remains "unnoticed" in the skinny-fat group - until it is too late. Someone who packs fat in ample quantities everywhere is probably more likely to notice (or be noticed and informed about it) and then take corrective action.