India is urbanising at a breakneck pace\u2002and this brings with it huge shifts in the way people eat, move and live. These changes in lifestyle are closely associated with increasing metabolic diseases like diabetes, fatty liver disease and\u2002obesity. But the real source of the problem\u2002goes even deeper \u2014 to our biology.<\/p>\n
Indians survived millennia of famine\u2002and hardship because they went through backbreaking manual labour in the fields. In order not to starve in those bad old\u2002days, our bodies evolved what scientists call the \u201cthrifty genotype.\u201d When\u2002this happened, the body became so good at saving and storing energy that bodies began to burn less calories than they stored. Every calorie was put to good\u2002use, and what was left over got saved as fat in case society couldn\u2019t manage during the lean times.<\/p>\n
Also Read | Sugar-sweetened drinks linked to higher risk of fatty liver disease, study finds<\/a><\/p>\n But today, that ancient survival mechanism is\u2002working against us. But the modern environment is literally the exact opposite \u2014 food is\u2002everywhere, easy, cheap, hyper-processed and calorie-dense<\/a>. Meanwhile\u2002physical activity has plummeted as a result of city living and sedentary jobs.<\/p>\n This juxtaposition of old genetics and new\u2002lifestyle is particularly striking in young Indians. These same genes that shielded us then now provide a way for our bodies to readily store\u2002fat more efficiently, especially around the abdominal area and in the liver. Metabolic diseases\u2002are therefore emerging early and are growing at an unprecedented pace.<\/p>\n Thrifty Phenotype: when early life nutrition predisposes adult disease<\/p>\n Adding to the genetic vulnerability is the \u201cThrifty Phenotype,\u201d which refers to adaptations made by the fetus during pregnancy, says Dr. Rajiv Kovil, Head of Diabetology and weight loss expert, Zandra Healthcare and Co-founder of Rang De Neela Initiative. He says Many Indians are born with low birth weight due to generations of maternal undernutrition.<\/p>\n Also Read | Obesity drug prices set to fall: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk strike deal with Trump<\/a><\/p>\n \u00b7 Smaller pancreas beta-cell mass<\/p>\n \u00b7 Lower metabolic reserve<\/p>\n As adults, when they encounter a high-calorie diet, sugary beverages, and sedentary lifestyle, their body cannot cope. The mismatch between a \u201cconservative\u201d metabolic setup and an \u201cabundant\u201d environment accelerates insulin resistance, visceral fat deposition, and fatty liver and very often, at a young age.<\/p>\n The Genetics of Fatty Liver: The PNPLA3 Connection<\/p>\n Research has identified certain genetic variations<\/a> that make Indians particularly susceptible to fatty liver disease. One of the most important is the PNPLA3 (patatin- like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3) gene variant, says Dr. Kovil.<\/p>\n People carrying this variant are more likely to:<\/p>\n Accumulate fat in the liver even without obesityDevelop fatty liver at a younger ageProgress faster to MASH (Metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis)Have associated metabolic complications including diabetes and heart disease<\/p>\n In simple words, some Indians can develop severe fatty liver even if they are not overtly overweight.<\/p>\n Also Read | Nutritionist shares 7 \u2018whole foods\u2019 for blood sugar control and diabetes care<\/a><\/p>\n Fatty liver is no longer a benign diagnosis. It is an early warning sign , a metabolic \u201cred flag.\u201d<\/p>\n Increased insulin resistanceProgression to prediabetes and diabetesHigher risk of heart attacks and strokesGreater visceral adiposityChronic inflammation and hormonal imbalance<\/p>\n In fact, fatty liver often precedes diabetes by several years. By the time fasting glucose rises, the metabolic storm is already brewing. The rapid shift in India\u2019s food ecosystem happened within just one generation. Our genes and physiology have not had time to adapt.<\/p>\n What happened instead?High-Carb Diet Culture: Our traditional plates are overloaded with rice, wheat, potatoes, and sugars, often exceeding 70\u201380 percent carbohydrate content. In vulnerable individuals, this quickly converts to triglycerides and gets stored in the liver.\u201cCoca Colonization\u201d: The invasion of sugary beverages, fast food, packaged snacks, and ultra-processed calories has impacted metabolic health. Liquid sugar is converted into liver fat.Also Read | Oestrogen protects against obesity-related fatty liver, says study<\/a>Sedentary Urban Lifestyles: Modern work culture, long commutes, screen- based work, and reduced physical activity have caused weight gain.Rapid Urbanization in One Generation: What took Western countries 50\u201360 years occurred in India in just 15\u201320 years. Our biological systems are still calibrated for scarcity, not abundance.What should young Indians Do?<\/p>\n The solution lies in early screening, prevention, reducing refined carbohydrates and saying NO to sugary beverages, increasing muscle mass through strength training, prioritizing sleep and stress control and getting regular liver and metabolic health checks<\/p>\n Awareness, prevention, and timely intervention can reverse this trend and protect an entire generation from the burden of metabolic disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India is urbanising at a breakneck pace\u2002and this brings with it huge shifts in the way people eat,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3535,7115,134,2344,6473,111,139,69,4368,105139],"class_list":["post-159567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-diabetes","tag-fatty-liver-disease","tag-health","tag-india","tag-metabolic-diseases","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-obesity","tag-urbanising"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}