| One in four people in the world carries South Asian ancestry. They are also among the most likely to develop diabetes earlier and faster than almost anyone else. With the odds stacked against South Asians, we gathered some of the most brilliant physicians, researchers, scientists and philanthropists on 30 May 2026 in Menlo Park to ask why we’re still losing a fight we know how to win. The entire symposium was expertly moderated by Dr. Rachna Rekhi.
The morning opened with the science as Dr. Alka Kanaya, who led the landmark MASALA study for fifteen years, and gave us much food for thought. She showed us how Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants in the US have alarmingly high levels of diabetes when compared to Caucasians, with Bangladeshis being the hardest hit. She believes using BMI to screen South Asians for diabetes is not that useful as it overlooks the thin diabetics of Indian origin who are metabolically vulnerable and need help. She also revealed the more unsettling truth that beta cells (the insulin-producing engine of the pancreas) in South Asians are low at birth and burn out early. Other researchers believe we may have smaller pancreas size. So physiologically and genetically South Asians have much stacked against them. Her conclusion – to stop curing diabetes for the 70-yr olds and start working with 10, 15 and 20-yr olds echoed across every talk that followed.
Dr. Rajesh Dash of Stanford’s SSATHI clinic shared that over half of all heart attacks in South Asians strike before age 50, and the standard calcium scan misses the soft plaque that actually kills. He asked us all to do tests early such as the 2-hour glucose tolerance test with insulin at four time points, lipoprotein(a), and baseline Coronary CT angiogram. Dr. Michael Snyder of Stanford, showed that everyone’s sugar spikes are different in response to the same foods and there’s no single way people get diabetes. He goaded us all to use the data from continuous glucose monitors, learn what foods to avoid, and his direct charge, “Be your own quarterback” resonated with everyone in the room to take their health in their hands.
Dr. Christopher Gardner of Stanford made the case for food as medicine, with an essential caveat that meals must be tailored to a condition and more importantly to culture. He highlighted that healthy food can be elegant and tasty and that indeed the food we eat can be medicine.
Prof. Ashwini Wagle of San Jose State University carried principle into practice by building carb-counting tools for South Asian foods so no patient is simply provided generic advice. Dr. Deepa Sannidhi of University California San Diego reminded the room that even in the age of GLP-1 drugs, lifestyle change isn’t optional. Patients need “the appropriate dose of lifestyle intervention,” and the two work best together. Anita Sathe of the South Asian Heart Centre distilled lifestyle change into a ritual that patients can remember daily called MEDS – Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep.
The conversation widened to broader stakes in the fireside chat, where Seema Srivastava of Beyond Type 1’s reframed the diabetes crisis to a visibility and a stigma problem. Dr. Nalini Saligram of Arogya World argued how diabetes is the world’s most preventable epidemic and it’s woefully underfunded. She revealed that 80% of type 2 cases can be averted by eating right, exercise and avoiding tobacco. Prevention is the smart solution and yet barely 2% of global health funding goes to diabetes prevention.
The Symposium ended with Dr. Nalini reading out the draft Menlo Park Declaration reaffirming the South Asian community’s resolve not to let diabetes defeat us. More on this later.
Watch the complete recording of the Symposium.
Arogya World’s first Scientific Symposium: The Next Frontier in Diabetes Care, was organised in Rosewood Sand Hill, Melno Park, California on Saturday May 30, 2026. |
