Packing on pounds riskier for South Asians, say McMaster researchers

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/SAnand09.jpg” caption=” A new study by researchers at McMaster University has found that some ethnic groups are more likely to be adding dangerous fat onto their internal organs like their liver when they gain weight, while others just add it to their waistline. File photo.”]It's not fair, but it's true. A new study by researchers at McMaster University has found
that some ethnic groups are more likely to be adding dangerous fat onto their internal
organs like their liver when they gain weight, while others just add it to their waistline.

Sonia Anand, who led the study published today in the medical journal PLoS ONE, said
South Asians are particularly more likely to add the type of organ-hugging fat that can
lead to diabetes and coronary artery disease.

Previously the researchers at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and the
Population Health Research Institute had found that, even with the same body mass
index as Caucasians, people who originate from the Indian subcontinent have more risk
factors for cardiovascular disease including type 2 diabetes, low “good” or HDL
cholesterol, and more abdominal obesity.

“The new study showed South Asians have less space to store fat below the skin than
white Caucasians,” said Anand, a professor of medicine and epidemiology. “Their excess
fat, therefore, overflows to ectopic compartments, in the abdomen and liver where it
may affect function.”

This visceral fat, she added, is associated with metabolic problems such as elevated
glucose and abnormal lipids which are risk factors which ultimately lead to coronary
artery disease.

The study was sponsored by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. Anand holds
the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario/ Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Population
Health Research.

“Many Canadians of South Asian descent – as well as those of Aboriginal, African and
Chinese descent – are experiencing historic levels of risk for heart disease and stroke. It
is only through research like this that we can learn how better to treat and prevent these
diseases, so lives are not cut short,” said Mary Lewis, vice-president, research, advocacy
and health promotion at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. “The Heart and
Stroke Foundation of Ontario is proud to support such important work.”

Arya Sharma, director of the Canadian Obesity Network and a co-author of the study
said: “This study helps explain why South Asians experience weight-related health
problems at lower BMI levels than Caucasians. For the clinician, this also means that
individuals of South Asian heritage need to be screened for the presence of heart
disease and diabetes at lower BMIs.”