Description
South Asians, including people with ancestry from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives, have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes than many other populations. They often develop heart disease at younger ages and sometimes at lower body weights. (Jose, 2024; Patel et al., 2021; Volgman et al., 2018).
This increased risk is not caused by a single factor. Evidence points to a combination of inherited, metabolic, lifestyle, and social influences. Common contributors include insulin resistance, abdominal or visceral fat, type 2 diabetes, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, elevated lipoprotein(a), family history, stress, migration-related changes in diet and physical activity, delayed screening, and barriers to preventive care. (Kanaya et al., 2014; Rohatgi et al., 2025; Volgman et al., 2018).
A key pattern among South Asians is metabolic risk at a lower body mass index (BMI). Insulin resistance, diabetes, abdominal fat, and cholesterol abnormalities may develop even when body weight does not appear very high. High blood pressure, diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels, and coronary artery disease may also appear by midlife. Research has found that South Asians may experience heart attacks at younger ages than some other populations. These findings make early screening and prevention especially important. (Kanaya et al., 2014; Kanaya et al., 2026; Patel et al., 2021; Rohatgi et al., 2025; WHO Expert Consultation, 2004).
Standard cardiovascular risk calculators may underestimate risk in South Asian patients. For this reason, U.S. prevention guidelines recognize South Asian ancestry as a cardiovascular riskenhancing factor when clinicians are considering preventive treatment. (Arnett et al., 2019). South Asians are not one uniform group. Risk patterns can vary by country of origin, religion, diet, immigration history, income, sex, and generation. (Rohatgi et al., 2025; Volgman et al., 2018).
Publication Date
2026
Document Type
Book
Keywords
South Asian Community, Patient guide, Cadiovascular nutrition education, Nutrition facts label
Disciplines
Food Science
Rights
© 2026 Ashwini Wagle
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Wagle, Ashwini, "South Asian Nutrition Guide for Heart Health: A Practical Guide to Sodium, Saturated Fat, Packaged Foods, Recipes and Meal Planning" (2026). Open Educational Resources. 21.
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/oer/21
Comments
The development of this resource was made possible through the collaboration and support of Rie Ahsan, an undergraduate student in the BS in Nutritional Science with a concentration in Applied Nutrition and Food Sciences program. Rie played an integral role in the project and his contributions included verifying the authenticity of traditional foods, categorizing foods into appropriate food groups, and creating nutrient spreadsheets.
An earlier version of this nutrition education resource was published in 2011 with the assistance of Neetu Bagaria, MS, as part of the master’s project titled “Development and Evaluation of the Nutrition Education Tool for South Asians with Cardiovascular Diseases”.