| New study focuses on diabetes in Asians |
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Singapore - Researchers from Singapore and New Zealand are launching a study on the role of genes in diabetes and why Asians are about twice as likely as Caucasians to come down with the disease, a news report said Monday. Indians are two to three times more likely than Chinese to contract type II diabetes, the most common form of the disease, which occurs when the body produces insufficient insulin to convert glucose into energy, The Straits Times said.
The partnership between the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and the University of Auckland's Liggins Institute is focusing on how genes and foetal development affect metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in Asians later in life. Metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity result when the body's system of converting food into energy breaks down, while cardiovascular diseases affect the heart or blood vessels. A growing number of younger people, some not even overweight, are contracting diabetes, Liggins Institute Director Peter Gluckman told the newspaper. "You may be thin on the outside, but there may be a lot of fat inside you, which makes you susceptible to diabetes," he was quoted as saying. His speciality is in how, during a foetus' development, the genes predisposing it to future diseases can be switched on or off. Singapore's three major ethnic groups are Chinese, Malays and Indians. Comments (0)
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