Could high heat cooking and food processing promoting neo-formed contaminants partially explain the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease in South Asian populations? A hypothesis.

Background And Aims: The occurrence of chronic heart and kidney diseases among the South Asian populations has been rising exponentially over the years. Research has been carried out in the past to explain the increased susceptibility with no resultant strong evidence. Various possible causes have been suggested with a previous hypothesis suggestive of high heat cooking techniques being responsible for increased production of neo-formed contaminants such as advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and trans-fatty acids (TFAs) leading to increased chronic heart diseases among the South Asian diaspora (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka in South Asia and overseas).

COVID-19 zugzwang: Potential public health moves towards population (herd) immunity.

COVID-19 is pandemic, and likely to become endemic, possibly returning with greater virulence. Outlining potential public health actions, including hygiene measures, social distancing and face masks, and realistic future advances, this paper focuses on the consequences of taking no public health action; the role of natural changes such as weather; the adverse public health consequences of lockdowns; testing for surveillance and research purposes; testing to identify cases and contacts, including the role of antibody tests; the public health value of treatments; mobilising people who have recovered; population (a synonym for herd) immunity through vaccination and through natural infection; involving the entire population; and the need for public debate. Until there is a vaccine, population immunity is going to occur only from infection.

Effects of dietary and physical activity interventions on the risk of type 2 diabetes in South Asians: meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomised controlled trials.

Aims/hypothesis: Individuals of South Asian origin have a high risk of type 2 diabetes and of dying from a diabetes-attributable cause. Lifestyle modification intervention trials to prevent type 2 diabetes in high-risk South Asian adults have suggested more modest effects than in European-origin populations. The strength of the evidence of individual studies is limited, however.

Heterogeneity/granularity in ethnicity classifications project: the need for refining assessment of health status.

Background: Identifying ethnic inequalities in health requires data with sufficiently 'granular' (fine detailed) classifications of ethnicity to capture sub-group variation in healthcare use, risk factors and health behaviors. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), in the USA, commissioned us to explore granular approaches to ethnicity data collection outside of the USA, commencing with the European Union.

Methods: We examined official data sources (population censuses/registers) within the EU-28 to determine the granularity of their approach to ethnicity.

Assessment of health care, hospital admissions, and mortality by ethnicity: population-based cohort study of health-system performance in Scotland.

Background: Ethnic minorities often experience barriers to health care. We studied six established quality indicators of health-system performance across ethnic groups in Scotland.

Methods: In this population-based cohort study, we linked ethnicity from Scotland's Census 2001 (April 29, 2001) to hospital admissions and mortality records, with follow-up until April 30, 2013.

Mortality, ethnicity, and country of birth on a national scale, 2001-2013: A retrospective cohort (Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study).

Background: Migrant and ethnic minority groups are often assumed to have poor health relative to the majority population. Few countries have the capacity to study a key indicator, mortality, by ethnicity and country of birth. We hypothesized at least 10% differences in mortality by ethnic group in Scotland that would not be wholly attenuated by adjustment for socio-economic factors or country of birth.

Urbanized South Asians' susceptibility to coronary heart disease: The high-heat food preparation hypothesis.

Objective: Known risk factors do not fully explain the comparatively high susceptibility to coronary heart disease (CHD) in South Asians (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan populations in South Asia and overseas). The search for explanatory hypotheses and cofactors that raise susceptibility of South Asians to CHD continues. The aim of this study was to propose "the high-heat food preparation hypothesis," where neo-formed contaminants (NFCs) such as trans-fatty acids (TFAs) and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are the cofactors.

The HAPPY (Healthy and Active Parenting Programmme for early Years) feasibility randomised control trial: acceptability and feasibility of an intervention to reduce infant obesity.

Background: The prevalence of infant obesity is increasing, but there is a lack of evidence-based approaches to prevent obesity at this age. This study tested the acceptability and feasibility of evaluating a theory-based intervention aimed at reducing risk of obesity in infants of overweight/obese women during and after pregnancy: the Healthy and Active Parenting Programme for Early Years (HAPPY).

Methods: A feasibility randomised controlled trial was conducted in Bradford, England.

Ethnic variations in upper gastrointestinal hospitalizations and deaths: the Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study.

Background: Upper gastrointestinal (GI) diseases are common, but there is a paucity of data describing variations by ethnic group and so a lack of understanding of potential health inequalities. We studied the incidence of specific upper GI hospitalization and death by ethnicity in Scotland.

Methods: Using the Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study, linking NHS hospitalizations and mortality to the Scottish Census 2001, we explored ethnic differences in incidence (2001-10) of oesophagitis, peptic ulcer disease, gallstone disease and pancreatitis.

All-cause and cause-specific mortality of different migrant populations in Europe.

This study aimed to examine differences in all-cause mortality and main causes of death across different migrant and local-born populations living in six European countries. We used data from population and mortality registers from Denmark, England & Wales, France, Netherlands, Scotland, and Spain. We calculated age-standardized mortality rates for men and women aged 0-69 years.