ReviewDiabetologia2020
Why are South Asians prone to type 2 diabetes? A hypothesis based on underexplored pathways.
Review in Diabetologia, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 120 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
120 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 196 citations in OpenAlex.
- Continental differences in the association between excess body weight and prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer: a meta-analysis.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2025Pooled it
- Diabetes and gastric cancer incidence and mortality in the Asia Cohort Consortium: A pooled analysis of more than a half million participants.Journal of diabetes · 2024Pooled it
- White rice, brown rice and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Greater Glycaemic Responses to Bodyweight Change in South Asians Than White Europeans at High Risk of Type 2 Diabetes.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2026Trial
- GLP-1, GIP, and Glucagon Excursions During a Mixed Meal Tolerance Test in Young and Lean South Asians Versus Europids.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2026Trial
- Perceived stress and progression of cardiometabolic risk factors among South Asians with prediabetes in a lifestyle intervention trial.Primary care diabetes · 2024Trial
- Efficacy of green jackfruit flour as a medical nutrition therapy replacing rice or wheat in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.Nutrition & diabetes · 2021Trial
- Subtypes of Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes: Mortality and Excess Life Lost in South Asians.Diabetes care · 2026Article
- Cardiometabolic Effects of Traditional South Asian Diets and the Growing Burden of Metabolic Syndrome.Archives of internal medicine research · 2026Article
- Narrative Review: Sugar and Rice and the Diabetes Epidemic in India-A Historical Context.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Insulin Hypersecretion and Increased Ectopic Fat in South Asian American Adolescents and Young Adults Compared With White and African American Peers: The CHARISMA Study.Diabetes care · 2026Article
- The landscape of dementia in India: Prevalence, risk factors, and opportunities ahead.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Review
- Age at type 2 diabetes diagnosis, mortality, and health loss in South Asians.Diabetes research and clinical practice · 2026Article
- Article
- Subclinical Origins of Cardiometabolic Risk in Indian Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study.Indian pediatrics · 2026Article
- Yoga practice duration and its influence on type 2 diabetes management: A meta-analysis of Asian population.iScience · 2026Article
- Reuniting diabetes through the islet coordinate framework.The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology · 2026Article
- Interplay between obesity-associated insulin resistance and immune system through the lens of evolutionary medicine.Molecular metabolism · 2026Review
- Article
60 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
South Asians have a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes, even at a lower BMI. This review sets out our perspective and hypothesis on the reasons for this. Emerging data from epidemiological studies indicate that South Asians may have a lower ability to secrete insulin, and thus may have less compensatory reserves when challenged with unhealthy lifestyles. Thus, insulin resistance may not be the primary driver of type 2 diabetes in this population. Furthermore, data also suggest that South Asians, on average, have lower muscle mass, and may have a specific propensity to ectopic hepatic fat accumulation and for intramyocellular fat deposition, which cause further disruption in insulin action. We hypothesise that the high diabetes susceptibility in South Asians is evolutionarily set through dual parallel and/or interacting mechanisms: reduced beta cell function and impaired insulin action owing to low lean mass, which is further accentuated by ectopic fat deposition in the liver and muscle. These areas warrant further research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.