Study builds first South Asian gut-microbiome map, links diets to diabetes
A three-year study published in Gut Microbes has built what its authors call the first reference database of the gut microbiome across South Asia, sampling 575 adults from 10 communities in India and Sri Lanka. It suggests gut bacteria, not just genes, may explain rising diabetes, obesity and hypertension as Indians urbanise. Niraj Rai and Maanasa Raghavan led the work.