During the past two weeks, I have begun to research my topic, which centers around risk factors for diabetes and heart disease in South Asians. I am currently reading a book for my research called The South Asian Health Solution. It is written by Ronesh Sinha M.D., an internal medicine specialist, who has noticed that South Asians are one of the groups that are at highest risk for diabetes and heart disease, and he states that overall, this is due to a set of high-risk genes coupled with poor lifestyle choices.
I read about the processes of inflammation and insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone that carries glucose to your cells. The author likens insulin resistance to a train station, where insulin is the train ticket, glucose molecules are the passengers, the conductor is the insulin receptor, and and the train represents a muscle cell. Insulin resistance happens when the insulin receptors won't let in the glucose molecules, and therefore they remain in the bloodstream, increasing a person's blood sugar levels.
This is one of the key topics in the book, and I think the rest of the research will progress much faster now that I have the basics down. With a little bit more research, I think I will soon be ready to start creating my questionnaire.
Great post Maya! I am interested to learn more about your progress and research about South Asian Health.
ReplyDeleteBooks are a great way to research a topic, but way to power through all the vocab. I did not understand half of it, but it really looks like you have the basics.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have made a lot of progress, which is great! After you create the questionnaire, how will you use it as a resource to solve the problem?
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