Winter 2026
DESIDOC NEWS
from Dr. Mubin Syed
DESIDOC NEWS
from Dr. Mubin Syed
Stay Informed, Positive & Proactive for Optimal Health!
Stay Informed, Positive & Proactive for Optimal Health!
Embedded Files
New Book! HEALING FROM OUR HISTORY
from Dr. Mubin Syed
In this newsletter:
Medical Tests to Request
Health Checklist for South Asians
South Asian Health Resources
Top 10 Most Useful Desidoc.md IG Posts of 2025
An Excerpt from Healing From Our History
New Research: October 2025 The Lancet journal article on "Type 5" Diabetes
HEALING FROM OUR HISTORY: Podcasts, Interviews & Articles Featuring Dr Syed
Share Your Story!
Discount coupon for my book Healing From Our History
"I follow you!"
A woman stopped me on the street while I was on vacation with my family in Mexico City. She was a South Asian woman who said she followed my desidoc.md Instagram posts on South Asian health. She was excited to tell me about her and her parents' proactive work on their health. I was thrilled that the information I have been sharing has helped her. I am inspired by success stories!
Since I had my first heart attack at 52 and discovered a link between modern South Asian predispositions for disease and colonial-era South Asian famines, I have been on a mission to help others optimize their health. I’ve been moved and energized by the strong support I’ve seen on social media, for my book Healing From Our History, and in workshops and events I’ve done to support this mission.
This year has been a whirlwind, first in the lead-up to publish my book in April 2025 after more than six years of work. Since then, I’ve been interviewed by the Council on Foreign
Affairs, Brown History, and The Juggernaut; I’ve written articles for the AAPA and APPNA medical association journals; discussed South Asian health on 8 podcasts, and led multiple workshops and events.
Your interest is growing and that motivates me. It’s important that we South Asians learn the influence of history on our health today and more importantly that there are things we can do to live healthier lives. That may mean having more informed conversations with our doctors and adapting or replacing unhealthy “traditional” food and lifestyle choices (which are, in fact, influenced by colonial rule -- like consuming polished white rice). I know that with information and inspiration we can all move forward to be healthier.
What follows are highlights from the year, ICYMI notes and links, and some bonus features. Continue to stay curious, imformed, positive, and proactive, and spread the word to your family, friends, and others in the South Asian community! -- Dr. Mubin Syed
Medical Tests to Request
Medical Tests to Request
We should all see our doctor at least once a year and have standard blood tests (a blood panel) to have a health baseline. Then check against it annually. Even if you and/or your family have not had serious health issues, South Asians have high predisposition for diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses. I’m not encouraging paranoia, but pro-activity. Talk to your doctor about your health and discuss the tests I mention below based on your health history and concerns.
You won’t do all of these all at once, but it’s good to have a reference and keep track. You may start by discussing the tests with your primary care physician then move on to specialists as needed, such as a cardiologist, endocrinologist, or a gynecologist for women. You’ll have to find out what tests are covered by your insurance and make informed decisions in consultation with your doctors about what you should pursue when.
For All South Asians …
Even if you feel healthy, your genetics put you at higher risk for insulin resistance, visceral fat, and early heart disease. Metabolic health tests help catch insulin resistance early.
Metabolic Health Tests
◦ Fasting Glucose
◦ Fasting Insulin (early insulin resistance)
◦ HbA1c
◦ Lipid Panel (Total Chol, LDL, HDL, Triglycerides)
◦ Triglyceride-to-HDL
◦ Ratio (powerful insulin sensitivity marker)
To Check Liver + Inflammation Markers…
These detect early fatty liver and chronic inflammation.
Liver & Inflammation Tests
◦ ALT, AST (liver enzymes)
◦ CRP - inflammation marker
◦ GGT - early fatty liver risk
To Check Nutrient Deficiencies…
Common South Asian Deficiency Diagnostics
◦ Vitamin D
◦ Vitamin B12
◦ Ferritin (iron stores)
◦ Homocysteine (can rise from B12/folate issues)
If You Have Family History of Diabetes, PCOS, or Obesity…
Extra Tests to Add:
• Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT)
◦ HOMA-IR (insulin resistance calculator)
◦ Free & Total Testosterone (women w/PCOS signs)
◦ SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin)
If You Have Family History of Heart Disease…
Advanced Heart Prevention Tests:
◦ ApoB (stronger heart risk predictor than LDL)
◦ Lp(a) - very common genetically in South Asians
◦ hs-CRP
◦ Coronary Calcium Score (Men >40, women >45 with risk)
If You Already Have Diabetes or Pre-Diabetes…
You Need All the Above + Additional Screening:
· Albumin/Creatinine Ratio (kidneys)
◦ Retinal Screening (eyes)
◦ Foot Exam (nerves)
◦ Regular Blood Pressure Monitoring
If you can, start understanding your health from the inside out, before you have a problem, and if you feel or see signs of trouble, don’t wait to discuss this with your doctor. Work with your health care practitioners to discuss your and your family’s health history and concerns. Plan a diagnostic, preventative, and lifestyle approach to optimize your health.
HEALTH CHECKLIST FOR SOUTH ASIANS
HEALTH CHECKLIST FOR SOUTH ASIANS
Start now to pay more attention to your health!
The question I'm most commonly asked?
How do I prevent getting diabetes or heart disease or other major illnesses?
Before I had a heart attack, I wish I had had a simple health checklist.
I share this checklist with you below.
Review it now. If you answer "no" to all of these questions—wonderful!
Simply check back occasionally to make sure you're mindful of potential signs of health problems.
Or, discuss any concerns it triggers with your doctor.
HEALTH CHECKLIST
Do you fall asleep after a meal?
This could be sign of pre-diabetes or diabetes.
Do you feel tired during the day or snore at night?
This could be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, which is a risk factor for diabetes, pre-diabetes, and heart disease.
Do you get out of breath or feel chest tightness when climbing stairs or can't walk as far as you did a few months ago?
This could be a sign of heart disease.
In particular for South Asians, do you have dark patches on your face, neck, arms, or legs?
This is called acanthosis nigricans and could be a sign of pre-diabetes or diabetes.
When you look down can you see your feet?
You should be able to. For South Asian men, your waist circumference should be less than 90 cm. For South Asian women, it should be less than 84cm.
This checklist is not to scare you but to help you:
Be more aware of what's happening in your own body
Have more informed conversations with your doctor
Know that you have some control over your health.
It starts with being proactive and aware.
* Disclaimer: This checklist is for information purposes only and should not substitute for consultation with your doctor/health practitioner.
***
TOP 10 MOST USEFUL INSTAGRAM POSTS of 2025
TOP 10 MOST USEFUL INSTAGRAM POSTS of 2025
Did you miss these? I post facts and guidance to enrich your knowledge of South Asian health history and how to live a healthy life. Check these out!
https://www.instagram.com/desidoc.md/
5/5/25 150 Minutes a Week of Exercise? Not Enough for South Asians. Let’s talk about why we need more – and how much more.
7/8/25 Why South Asians Gain Fat Easily – Even When They’re Thin. The Answer lies in famine survival, not failure.
7/24/25 150 Minutes of Exercise a week? For South Asians, that’s not enough. Here’s why we need more – and how much more.
4/25/25 Why South Asians Need To Build Muscle Mass. It’s not just about looks -- it’s about survival.
8/13/25 Why “Next-Day” Rice Is Better for Your Blood Sugar, Hint: It’s All About Resistant Starch.
7/13/25 The Famines Were Man Made Not Just Bad Weather. This was policy-driven suffering.
11/16/25 How to Convince Your Desi Parents to Start Lifting Weights Because “Walking Only” Isn’t Enough Anymore
7/2/25 How South Asia’s Wealth Was Drained. The British Empire extracted massive amounts of Indian wealth through “Home Charges” and elite salaries.
12/3/25 Only 5 Days. Only South Asians. A study found that South Asians develop insulin-resistance after just five days of eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet – while Caucasians did not.
7/28/25 I Had No Family History. I Ate Healthy. I Ran 3 Miles Every Other Day But At 52 I had a massive heart attack. Here’s what I discovered.
SOUTH ASIAN HEALTH RESOURCES
SOUTH ASIAN HEALTH RESOURCES
If you have a wonderful doctor and healthcare network, please continue to proactively work with them to achieve your optimal health. But if you're looking for extra information or support, below are some health centers, researchers, and doctors specializing in South Asian health in the United States.
Centers
South Asian Public Health Association
(US/National)
Find out more here.
Sign up for the SAPHA newsletter.
Masala Study (Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living In America) Study
(University of California, San Francisco, CA; Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; New York University, NY)
Find out more here.
PRANA: PRevention and AwareNess for South Asians (Palo Alto, CA)
Find out more here.
South Asian Comprehensive Cardiovascular Clinic (Cincinnati, OH)
Find our more here.
South Asian Health Initiative (SAHI)/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY)
Find out more here.
United Kingdom
British Heart Foundation
Find our more here.
Heart UK
Find out more here.
Individuals
CADI Research Foundation (Coronary Artery Disease Among Asian Indians/Enas A. Enas, MD)
Cardiologist
Find out more here.
Duke University Health System/Afreen Idris Shariff, MD, MBBS
Endocrinologist
Find our more here.
NSC Cardiology/Narendra Singh, MD, FRCPC, FACC, FAHA, FCCS (Atlanta, GA)
Find out more here.
(*Shared for informational purposes only; I have no affiliation with the organizations and individuals listed.)
EXCERPT from my new book, Healing From Our History
EXCERPT from my new book, Healing From Our History
“Many people sold their boys and girls for a little rice. Many wives and youngwomen ran off, hand-in-hand with men they knew or didn’t know for the promiseof food…Hunger stalked us. Hunger and epidemics. People of all ages began to die.”ese are memories of Bijoykrishna Tripathi, who was 112 years old in 2024. He was oneof the last eyewitnesses to the starvation and desperation during the Bengal Famine of1943.45
Bengal Famine of 1943, you might wonder?
Not many people today know that there was a massive famine in Bengal at the same time that world war raged throughout Europe and Asia—including in India. Sailen Sarkar, a retired teacher, decided to honor those who survived the Bengal Famine of 1943 by capturing their stories.
In 2013, he started traveling around the Bengali countryside, gathering first-hand accounts from survivors of the devastating 1943 famine. When Sailen was young, he saw photos of emaciated people in a photo album, taken by his father who had worked with a local charity to distribute relief supplies. The images never left him. As an adult, he became determined to learn their stories. He has collected more than 60 witness accounts, shared in his book Witness of the Famine (Durbhikkher Sakkhi).
In 2013, Sailen met an 86-year-old man, Sripaticharan Samanta, who had said that when he was a youth in Bengal, by October 1942 he was eating one small meal of rice a day.
Then a cyclone hit. He said the price of rice rose drastically, and traders bought whatever was left at any price.
“’Soon there was no rice in our village,’ Samanta told Sailen. ‘People lived off saved stocks for a while but started to sell off their lands just to have rice to eat.’” Sripaticharan went to Calcutta for
survival. Though he had a family member to stay with, he witnessed others collapsing on the way to the city or dying on the city pavements, all in search of relief.
At that time, Bengal became embroiled in World War II decision-making, aggravating the already bad conditions during colonial control. In 1942 Japan had invaded Burma, which bordered Bengal, and essential rice imports stopped. British leaders, concerned that Japan might move into east India, confisccated surplus rice and boats from towns and villages in the Bengal Delta to remove any enticement for an invasion. The policy wreaked havoc on the Bengal population and economy also devastated by the cyclone.
Sailen also interviewed people who found salvation on an island, K-Plot, during the Bengal Famine. Khoshain Sheikh, who was 92 when interviewed in 2018, was still sowing paddy saplings, as he had since he was a teen during the Bengal Famine.
He and his 12 brothers worked for a landowner and harvested a rich crop within a year....They survived and he and his descendants are now land owners. Thanks to Sailen, Sheik and other survivors have been able to share the stories of their experiences during the “forgotten Holocaust.”
********
Healing from Our History exposes how British oppression of South Asians throughout
colonial rule led to famines and deprivation, and as a result, biological adaptations. It was
the systematic exploitation and disregard of South Asians as human beings across two
centuries of history that altered South Asian environmental in.uences and, over the
generations, South Asian genetics.
is book shares the contributing factors and eyewitness accounts of the devastation.
As Mohandas Gandhi stated: “Little [does the public] realize that the government
established by law in British India is carried on for this exploitation of the people.
Nothing can explain away the misery of the people. No one can explain away the
evidence the skeletons in many villages present to the naked eye. I have no doubt
whatsoever that both England and the people of India will have to answer, if there is a
God above, for this crime against humanity that is perhaps unequaled in world history.”1
Since independence from colonial rule, South Asians have experienced a climate of
abundance, and there is now a paradoxical effect: Modern South Asians, genetically
adapted for deprivation, are at higher risk for diabetes, disease, and early death unless
preventative and targeted treatments are adopted.
Healing from Our History is a thorough recounting of the past so as to move forward with
collective and optimal understanding of South Asian health predispositions. With
awareness, more targeted preventative and health-promoting choices can be made.
******************************New Research: October 2025 The Lancet article on evidence of malnutrition-based "Type 5" Diabetes. Stay Informed on the latest research of interest to our community. ***
HEALING FROM OUR HISTORY: Podcasts, Interviews
& Articles Featuring Dr Syed
6/3/25 Bylined Article: Brown History: “Why Are South Asians In A Health Crisis? It May Start with Colonialism”
6/27/25 Podcast/Article: GYN & Sexual Medicine Collective and (Gyno Girl) "Dr. Mubin Syed on ‘Healing From Our History’ and How Colonialism Still Shapes South Asian Health."
July 2025 Bylined Article: AAPI Souvenir “How Epigenetics Influences Today’s South Asian Health Crisis” (AAPI: American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin)
7/19/25 Live Radio Show/Podcast: Indo-American News Radio Show
8/11/25 Article/IG: The Juggernaut Magazine “How the Bengal Famine Changed South Asian Genes”
9/26/25 Podcast: Dr Sadaf Lhodi The Muslim Sex Podcast; Healing From Our History: South Asian Heart Health & Colonial Roots with Dr. Mubin Syed
10/3/25 Video: Council on Foreign Relations
10/7/25 IG Live/Podcast: Dr Ammara Khalid IG Live; also IG post with Dr audio
11/13/25 Podcast/Article: Brown History Podcast/Substack: “South Asians Are Facing A Modern Day Health Crisis”
YouTube: Brown History
11/15/25 Podcast: Seeta Patel Dance: "Healing From Our Traumas"
11/25/25 Article: Indian Express, “South Asians Are Facing A Health Crisis. Dr Mubin Syed Traces It Back to British Rule.”
December 2025 APPNA Bylined Article “How Epigenetics Influences Our South Asian Health Crisis" (APPNA: Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America)
Healthy-In-2026 book discount!
Healthy-In-2026 book discount!
Here are your 26% discount codes for Healing From Our History,
Here are your 26% discount codes for Healing From Our History,
the new book by Dr Mubin Syed
the new book by Dr Mubin Syed
Paperback: X3G9GT
Paperback: X3G9GT
Ebook: GRFFPL
Ebook: GRFFPL
(Valid for book purchase through the BookBaby retailer from
January 1, 2026 12am ET through January 7, 2026 11:59 pm ET)
SHARE YOUR STORY
SHARE YOUR STORY
We want to hear from you!
What health wins have you had or changes have you made to live a healthier life?
Have you or someone South Asian that you know experienced diabetes, heart disease, or stroke at a young age?
Do serious health issues run in your family?
Do you know of any Bengal Famine survivors from the 1940s?
Please send a brief version of your story (50 words or less) and I would be honored to consider sharing your story with my followers.
The "new normal" for South Asian health includes sharing our health stories to inform and inspire others in our community. Join us!
Send your story to: desidoc.health@gmail.com
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