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Confessions of a thin-fat Indian

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 72, pages 469–473 (2018)Cite this article

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As an aspiring molecular biologist I learnt about the initiator codon AUG, the f-Met-tRNA and Nomura’s ribosome cycle in 1970 [1] but little did I know that methionine would shadow me for the rest of my life! I was super excited about Jacob and Monod’s Operon model which taught me how nutrition and environment could guide the genome to respond appropriately [2]. Low methionine status, hyperhomocysteinemia, vitamin B12 deficiency and the associated epigenetic foetal programming have dominated my research in the quest to understand the high susceptibility of Indians to diabetes [3]. Circumstances drove me to become a doctor rather than a molecular biologist in 1971.

My tryst with diabetes research began when I was training in Medicine at the Sassoon General Hospital, Pune. I was required to take nutritional history and measure body mass index of diabetic patients. The scales used measured weight in pounds and height in feet and inches. Unable to afford a calculator, I used a log table to calculate the body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2). The first ten patients revealed that they were young and thin, unlike the textbook description of a diabetic as old and obese. Discussions with the boss resulted in a decision that passing the MD examination was a priority rather than challenging the dogma! After obtaining my MD, I applied to five leading diabetes centres in the United Kingdom, and just when I was ready to give up, Derek Hockaday offered me a registrar’s position in Oxford. Later I learned that Sheikh Rashid of Dubai had generously donated to diabetes research in Oxford, and I was one of the beneficiaries.

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  1. Kamalnayan Bajaj Diabetology Research Centre, King Edward Memorial Hospital Research Centre, Pune, 411011, India

    Chittaranjan S. Yajnik

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Correspondence to Chittaranjan S. Yajnik.

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Yajnik, C.S. Confessions of a thin-fat Indian. Eur J Clin Nutr 72, 469–473 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-017-0036-3

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