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More than 4,000 children living in India and Canada will be the focus of a sweeping new study aimed at developing critical strategies for preventing obesity.

The study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), involves researchers from Simon Fraser University and McMaster University and targets children between the ages of seven and eight and 14-15 years.

“Obesity in Indians is a major health issue because of the large global population of Indians and their increased risk for obesity-related health consequences, like diabetes and heart disease,” says Scott Lear, an SFU associate professor in health sciences who is working on the study with Zubin Punthakee of McMaster University. Rates of childhood obesity are also rising with urbanization.

Researchers are partnering with the Surrey School District and the Peel School District in Brampton, Ontario, as well as India’s Mandal Education Board, which focuses on rural communities in India.

“Indians are biologically and culturally different from the Caucasian groups in which most of these associations have been studied,” says Lear, who is also the Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair I Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul’s Hospital.

“They comprise one of the fastest growing groups in Canada, but unfortunately also have some of the highest diabetes and heart disease rates. In India alone, over 32 million people have diabetes—more than the entire population of Canada.”

Lear earlier found that people of Indian descent store more fat around their waist than other ethnic groups, putting them at greater risk for diabetes and heart disease.

“Little is known about the relationship between various environmental factors and obesity among children of Indian origin living in settings from rural India to urban India to urban Canada.

“This study will not only show the extent of the problem,” Lear adds, “but will also shed light on the characteristics of family, school and community environments that may affect it, which may be targets for future interventions.”

Study participants will undergo blood tests and take part in questionnaires (with parental assistance) based on their knowledge of healthy behaviors as well as environmental influences.

Researchers will analyse the genetics as well as data on environmental influences and further study gene-environment interactions. They also hope to continue with a long-term assessment of the group, re-examining biochemistry, attitudes and behaviours over three years.

Based on their findings, researchers plan to develop and test an intervention as part of a pilot test.

Lear is also studying how heart health changes in different ethnic groups and how to create heart healthy communities. 

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