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Doc awarded for proving link between pregnancy malnutrition and diabetes

Dr Chittaranjan Yagnik was awarded the Hellmuth Mehnert UN/UNESCO Award in Montreal, Canada for showing the link between malnutrition during pregnancy and diabetes development

Devidas Deshpande

Posted On Thursday, December 03, 2009 at 11:18:28 PM

Dr Chittaranjan Yagnik

Bringing another accolade to the city, a city diabetician has received a prestigious award in the recently held 20th World Diabetes Congress organised by the International Diabetes Federation.

More than the award, the reason for which he was honoured is more significant. He has shown that deficiency of B12 vitamin plays a crucial part in exaggerating the risk of diabetes and obesity in babies.

Dr Chittaranjan Yajnik, director of diabetes unit, KEM Hospital in Pune was recently honoured with Hellmuth Mehnert UN / UNESCO Award.

He shared this prize sponsored by Munich based company MSD SHARP & DOHME with professor Stephanie Amiel from UK.

The prize was given for his research into the link between maternal malnutrition during pregnancy, changes in the fetal uterus and diabetes development.

The study he was rewarded for is known as The Pune Maternal Nutrition Study and is extensively cited by overseas researchers. The study was carried out in six villages near Vadu.

This was the first prospective study in India to investigate the effect of maternal factors (from before conception) on the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the baby.

Dr Yajnik was helped by other experts like Dr Kurus Coyaji, Dr Siddhi Hirve and a team of social workers (MSWs), Dr Shobha Rao, Dr Arun Kinare, Punam Gupta, Dr S S Naik amongst others.

The Research
Indian babies have more fat density compared to European babies with same Body Mass Index. These are called ‘small and thin’ babies which are in fact ‘fatter’ compared to the Europid babies.

According to Dr Yajnik, the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study has shown that maternal vitamin B12 deficiency coupled with folate excess is associated with offspring adiposity and insulin resistance.

If the epigenetically affected offspring is female, then she transmits the susceptibility to her children (transgenerational amplification of obesity and diabetes).

In India, rapid transition seems to have combined the nutrient-mediated and fuel-mediated teratogenesis to cause a rapid rise in prevalence of adiposity and diabetes in the young, including children.

Rapid childhood growth in Intra Uterine Growth Retarded (IUGR) babies is associated with increased adiposity and insulin resistance and increased levels of cardiovascular risk factors.

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