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India Today
17-07-2025
- Health
- India Today
Can an Indian version of Mediterranean diet protect your heart? AIIMS finds out
Doctors and researchers are testing a new diet plan designed especially for Indians suffering from heart by the popular Mediterranean diet, this Indian-adapted version could be a way to offer simple, local, and effective strategies to protect the heart, especially at a time when India faces a high burden of cardiovascular Indian Adapted Mediterranean Diet (IAMD) is now in its third phase of testing through a clinical trial involving 140 patients at the All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi, and funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).advertisement Developed by experts at AIIMS and The George Institute for Global Health, with help from researchers in the US, the diet uses Indian ingredients to recreate the health benefits of the original Mediterranean diet, known for its heart-protective and anti-inflammatory details of the IAMD have been published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC THIS DIET MATTERSCoronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart disease and one of the leading causes of death in India. CAD happens when the arteries that supply blood to the heart become narrow or blocked due to plaque buildup (sticky, waxy substances made of cholesterol, fat, calcium, protein in the blood or even waste products from cells).This can lead to chest pain, shortness of breath, and even heart risk factors contribute to CAD like poor diet, lack of physical activity, obesity, and family history. Multiple studies show that changing the way we eat can lower the risk and help prevent future heart problems. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart disease and one of the leading causes of death in India. () 'The first phase was about the development of the diet,' Dr. Ambuj Roy, professor of cardiology at AIIMS Delhi, who is leading the trial, told 'We explored what the Mediterranean diet is and whether we could create equivalents within the food constraints here in India, while retaining its anti-inflammatory properties.'ADAPTING THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET FOR INDIAThe traditional Mediterranean diet includes lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and herbs like rosemary and thyme. These foods are linked with lower rates of heart disease and better overall for Indian patients, eating olives and fava beans isn't practical, or affordable. That's why the researchers created a local version of the diet using ingredients easily found in Indian of farro and bulgur, they used broken whole wheat and Basmati rice. Mustard and peanut oil replaced extra virgin olive oil. Herbs like tulsi (holy basil), ajwain (carom seeds), turmeric, and nutmeg were used in place of Mediterranean vegetables were swapped thoughtfully. 'We supplemented green leafy vegetables with Indian greens like bathua, chaulai, fenugreek, and radish leaves,' said Dr. Suparna Ghosh Jerath, a nutrition researcher at The George Institute and part of the IAMD THE DIET PLANSThe team from The George Institute didn't just stop at picking the ingredients. They built detailed seven-day diet plans that matched the calorie needs of different people. These included five calorie options: 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, and 2000 kcal diet was split into six meals a day - three main meals and three smaller ones. Meals were built to balance nutrients, with 15% from proteins, 25–30% from fats, and 50–53% from carbohydrates. The traditional Mediterranean diet includes lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and herbs like rosemary and thyme. ( advertisement"We developed 7-day diet plans tailored to each individual's calorie needs and gave them these meal plans. For now, we are experimenting with North Indian cuisine. As you know, food habits change every 100 kilometres in India. So, we do plan to extend this to other parts of the country—South Indian, Eastern, and Western cuisines," Dr. Roy researchers provided a detailed matrix representing recommendations for the Mediterranean Diet, the Indian counterparts, their availability and acceptability, and the adaptations based on the North Indian food environment. Except for quinoa, cannellini, and fava beans, the whole grains and legumes found in the MD were also present in North Indian whole wheat and local rice varieties (Basmati) were substituted for bulgur and farro, respectively, and maize flour was added instead of virgin olive oil was partially replaced with the more culturally acceptable and available mustard and peanut oils. Some condiments and spices in the MD, like thyme, rosemary, and marjoram, were supplemented with other herbs and condiments used in Indian cuisine, such as Indian basil (tulsi), carom seeds (ajwain), turmeric (haldi), Nutmeg (jaiphal) and mace (javitri).advertisementSimilarly, the green leafy vegetable list was supplemented with Chenopodium Album (Bathua), amaranthus viridis (Chaulai), fenugreek leaves (methi), and radish leaves (mooli ke patte).The team has already applied for grants to expand this work into other regions of INFLAMMATION WITH DII SCORESThe researchers also used a scientific tool called the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), pioneered by Dr. James Hebert of the University of South Carolina, to check how much inflammation each diet could cause or plays a big role in heart disease, and diets that reduce inflammation can help protect the heart. Inflammation plays a big role in heart disease, and diets that reduce inflammation can help protect the heart. () Most Indian diets studied in CAD patients had DII scores between -1.8 and 3.8, with a median score of 1.1, which is slightly pro-inflammatory. The adapted Mediterranean diet, however, scored between -7.8 and -8.4, which is strongly anti-inflammatory.'We tried to make the recipes highly anti-inflammatory by including foods known for such properties,' said Dr. Jerath. 'For example, if we prepare dal and add garlic tadka and spices, it becomes more anti-inflammatory because of the properties of these ingredients.'advertisementMAKING THE DIET PRACTICAL AND AFFORDABLEA common worry about healthy diets is affordability. Many believe that plant-based diets rich in nuts, seeds, and oils are too expensive for the average Indian household.'When we talk about nuts and oils, there's a perception that this kind of diet is for the rich. But we've tried to divide the portions and design recipes in a way that even people from humble backgrounds can follow," Dr. Jerath added that it's not just about copying the Mediterranean diet, but making it culturally relevant and accessible. 'We didn't just copy the Mediterranean diet. We looked at Indian equivalents like whole grains and pulses and built from there.'FROM HOSPITALS TO HOMESThis study isn't just about feeding hospital patients. The researchers hope to eventually promote these diets at a community level.'We need to engage with community health workers and create an impact once we find that it's effective,' said Dr. Jerath. 'We focus on promoting traditional diets, especially in rural areas, things like consuming unpolished rice, whole grains, vegetables from kitchen gardens, and using natural farming methods.'She added that people have moved away from home-cooked food and rely more on processed food from the market. This shift has contributed to poor health HAPPENS NEXTCurrently, the third phase of the trial is underway at AIIMS Delhi. So far, 115 patients have been recruited. The plan is to recruit a total of 140 patients, who will be followed for six months. While the study is not large enough to test for major heart health outcomes, it is designed to measure dietary changes, anti-inflammatory effects, and improvements in health underway, the results from this trial could help shape future dietary guidelines for patients with heart disease and encourage more widespread adoption of healthier eating habits rooted in traditional Indian Dr. Roy summed it up, "It's not just the ingredients that matter, but the quantity, portion, intensity, and lifestyle factors that come with it."- Ends
Indian Express
15-07-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
AIIMS creates India-adapted Mediterranean diet: How diet correction early can prevent heart attacks
For long, we have heard that the Mediterranean diet is the best for heart health as it is anti-inflammatory and wondered how we could ever recreate that with Indian ingredients. Now doctors and researchers from AIIMS Delhi, The George Institute of Global Health, Delhi and the University of South Carolina, USA have come up with an Indian Adapted Mediterranean Diet (IAMD) for patients of coronary artery disease. This is a seven-day diet plan with North Indian recipes that have been developed, aligning with Mediterranean diet principles. Diet is an important risk factor associated with coronary artery disease. Dr Ambuj Roy, professor of cardiology at AIIMS and principal investigator of the project, said a feasibility study of the diet developed has been completed and is under review. The diets developed had a high rate of acceptance and greater details would be shared once the paper is published, he added. 'There is also an ongoing clinical trial at AIIMS, Delhi, to study the impact of IAMD on the dietary habits of patients with heart disease or at high risk for heart disease. We also hope to expand the development of IAMD beyond North Indian cuisine to accommodate the great diversity of the Indian diet and culinary culture. We have developed a website for its wider dissemination,' he said. Will an Indian diet based on Mediterranean dietary principles work? The diet was found to be highly anti-inflammatory, with the lowest Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores reported in medical literature. This score assesses the potential of a diet to promote or reduce inflammation in the body. Our traditional Indian diets have several locally-available, anti-inflammatory ingredients similar to the Mediterranean diet like a diversity of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts though we heavily rely on cereals. We did a free listing of the foods that constitute a Mediterranean diet and matched Indian alternatives where specific Mediterranean foods could not be used due to non-availability or cultural acceptability. Why is a Mediterranean diet beneficial for patients of coronary artery disease? The Mediterranean diet is a lifestyle centred around nutritious, anti-inflammatory foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, healthy fats, and fish, with limited intake of red meat and processed foods. Rich in polyphenols, antioxidants, fibre and Omega-3s, the diet supports heart and gut health and helps prevent inflammation-related diseases. How was this adapted in a north Indian diet? We have a wide variety of plant-based foods, whole grains like millets, legumes, spices and minimally processed meals made from scratch. Coastal regions consume diverse fish. Many of these ingredients, such as turmeric and whole spices, have known anti-inflammatory properties. We included such food items and cooking styles in our user-friendly diet. What are key diet takeaways? 1. Boost vegetable and fruit intake. Include 4–6 servings of local, seasonal vegetables (especially green leafy ones) and colourful fruits like citrus and berries. Rich in vitamins C, E, A, and phytochemicals, they help reduce inflammation. 2. Choose healthy fats. Use oils like mustard, peanut, and rice bran. Add nuts and fish — great sources of Omega-3s that lower inflammatory chemicals in the body. 3. Use traditional spices. Incorporate herbs, garlic, ginger, turmeric and other condiments as traditionally done — these have strong anti-inflammatory properties. 4. Prioritise whole grains and pulses. Opt for high-fibre foods like multigrain flour, millets, and whole pulses to support gut health and immunity. 5. Replace added sugar with naturally sweet options like local berries. 6. Avoid ultra-processed foods: Skip items you can't make at home—additives and preservatives in them promote inflammation. What should patients of coronary artery disease remain careful about? While it's common to cut fats, especially post-heart attack, this approach stems from Western models where saturated fat is the main culprit. Extreme low-fat or boiled diets are counterproductive. Patients need proper guidance to include good fats, healthy nuts, and a variety of anti-inflammatory foods, while avoiding refined carbs.
Korea Herald
23-06-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Hanwha teams up with Northrop Grumman for next-gen air defense
Hanwha Systems has partnered with Northrop Grumman, a US-headquartered aerospace and defense technology powerhouse, to join forces in developing next-generation integrated air and missile defense, or IAMD, systems, the Korean company said Monday. According to a memorandum of understanding, the two sides will discuss core technologies related to integrated air defense command and control and explore new business opportunities in Korea and overseas. 'Hanwha is undergoing a bold transformation to become a leading global defense company,' said Park Sung-kyun, vice president and business director of the defense electronics division at Hanwha Systems. 'Our partnership (with Northrop Grumman) reflects our ambition to lead the development of next-generation weapons systems and strengthen our position in the global market.' Northrop Grumman is the developer of the integrated battle command system, or IBCS, a cutting-edge command and control system designed to integrate various sensors and interceptors across the air, land and sea. The IBCS, which is currently used by the US Army, has been undergoing evaluation for expansion into Europe and other areas as it enables seamless data sharing and optimized threat engagement across diverse weapon systems. Hanwha Systems and Northrop Grumman plan to bring together their respective strengths in radar and battle management technologies for more advanced and resilient air defense solutions. 'This MOU with Hanwha demonstrates our strong desire to collaborate with Korean industry in exploring opportunities to provide innovative and cost-effective air and missile defense solutions that enhance Korean homeland defense,' said Kenn Todorov, vice president and general manager of command and control and weapons integration at Northrop Grumman.
Telegraph
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Britain's air defences are embarrassingly weak
This week the Telegraph is running a series of exclusive essays by expert commentators looking into Britain's 'hollow' armed forces. Integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) is a hot topic across Nato just now. It isn't, in fact, purely defensive: it is also an enabler for offensive operations and a deterrent. It's probably one of the more vital Defence capabilities, given ongoing events across the world – most obviously the struggle for the skies above Ukraine, mass missile/drone strikes against Israel and the interdiction of the southern Red Sea by the Houthis. As the UK has the fifth largest defence budget in the world (and the third biggest in Nato) one might expect that we would be strong in this area. Sadly, as is all too often the case, it's not true. When looking at IAMD it helps to break the threat into three. There are ballistic weapons (including nuclear), conventional missiles (air and subsurface launched) and drones. If one considers the likelihood of coming under attack from any of these during the post Cold-war era, you can see why IAMD wasn't really catered for – the threat was very low. It's very real now, however. At the moment, all three services bring some capability to defeat some of these threats. The RAF has the Quick Reaction Alert fighter jets based at RAF Coningsby (QRA South) and RAF Lossiemouth (QRA North). These occasionally hit the headlines by rattling windows as they go supersonic en route to intercept suspect aircraft. These suspects are often Russian 'Bear' bombers or maritime patrol planes, making incursions into the UK Air Defence Region (ADR). There is also the F-35B, the UK's only fifth-generation stealth plane, operated jointly with the Royal Navy. The RAF will also fly the E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft when it comes into service – at the moment the service has no airborne radar capability. For detecting planes, missiles or drones inbound to the UK we are reliant on the RAF's network of ground radars. This is not ideal as radars down on the ground have a close horizon, below which low-flying drones or cruise missiles can hide. However there is a common Nato fleet of E-3 Sentry radar planes dedicated to the protection of the alliance from the east. The RAF also has the lead on the ORCUS counter-uncrewed aerial system (C-UAS) which uses electronic counter measures and jamming to defeat drones. The Dragonfire laser system will complement this when it goes operational as will other directed energy weapons when they mature. This is a rapidly developing area driven by both land operations in Ukraine and maritime operations in the Red Sea and frankly, these systems can't become operational soon enough. The British Army has the 7 th Air Defence Group based at Thorney Island. They have the 'Sky Sabre' version of the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM – sorry, everything has an abbreviation) whose radar has a range of 75 miles and the missile itself about 15 miles. Longer range variants are being developed with Italy and Poland but for now, it's whites of the eyes stuff really. In addition, they have the High Velocity Missile (HVM) Starstreak and the Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) Martlet. Both are very short range – around five miles – and designed to counter threats from high performance, low flying aircraft and 'pop up' strikes from helicopters. All our ground-based missiles are both short range and expeditionary by design. They were not designed to cover large areas of land in the UK. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that they have some capability against conventional missile and drone attacks, threats two and three on my list. The Royal Navy has the Type 45 destroyer with its Sea Viper weapons system. This includes a Sampson Radar (250 miles), Sylver vertical launch system (48 silos) and the Aster 30 missile (75 miles). Of the six that were built, there are generally two available for operations at any given time and like any weapon system, they need to be in the right place at the right time to be effective. Here the RN and the RAF can collaborate to maximise the chances of achieving this, even to the level where the RAF can tell an RN ship where to take up station. The Type 45 has demonstrated that it can defeat low end ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones very well. It has no capability to shoot down missiles with a exo-atmospheric trajectory or hypersonics and is no good for drones over land. In other words, limited capacity against threat one, good against two (if in the right place) and nothing for three. The RN also operates the F-35B from its carriers and if things really did start to heat up with Russia these would be a key part of the North Atlantic barricade. To summarise all this, we can protect against the cold-war style threat of bombers coming over the top but the kit we have to do it is largely expeditionary and therefore notice is required to get it in the right place. If a submarine fired a cruise missile from west of Ireland at, say, Heathrow, we have nothing. Against the nuclear or ballistic threat we have nothing and against the drone threat, capabilities are improving but we have nowhere near enough. Fixing all this would actually be quite straightforward. Spoken like a true mariner, of course, but the best option would be land-based Sea Viper providing overlapping coverage for key strategic locations, such as airports, ports, airbases, and critical national infrastructure. Just one missile battery based at RAF Saxa Vord in the Shetlands would give the Russian bombers a headache as they came over the top and would probably lengthen their route as they opted to go around it. As ever, this is as much about controlling the space as it is about actually shooting things down. There is another interesting conversation to be had here about what happens if any of this challenges the validity of the QRA as this would be met with fierce opposition from that part of the RAF, but that is for another time. As a ready-to-go alternative to Sea Viper, there is the Patriot family of surface to air interceptors. Or there's the even higher-end version, THAAD, designed specifically to beat ballistics. Patriot has done some impressive things in Ukrainian hands, shooting down Russian hypersonics previously claimed to be unbeatable. There's also the European SAMP/T (already in use in France and Italy) and Meads (US, Germany and Italy). Iron Dome is not the right answer for us, it is too short range (40 miles). Of the Israeli systems, the Arrow family (100 to 2,000 mile range depending on variant) or David's Sling (200 miles) would be better. But now we get to the crunch. A single THAAD battery of six launcher vehicles, each with eight missiles, two operations centres and the AN/TPY-2 radar costs $1.8 billion dollars. The missiles are $12.6 million each. The harsh reality is that UK defence has been hollowed out for so long now, we can barely afford the absolute basics such as ships, tanks, fast jets and accommodation. On top of this, we are not spending enough to counter the things Russia is actually doing to us every day, such as cyber-attacks and seabed warfare. Our lack of any serious land-based anti-air missile capability is yet another rather obvious gap in our Defence capabilities nonetheless, like having no airborne radar. When the likes of Jordan and Romania – and even Egypt – have Patriot, it's a bit embarrassing that the best we can offer is Sky Sabre. We should fix this. But anyone who expects the Strategic Defence Review to provide the fiscal headroom to do it is, I suspect, going to be disappointed. Tom Sharpe is a former Royal Navy officer. He trained first as a Fighter Controller and then as a specialist Anti-Air Warfare Officer. Other articles in our ongoing series on Britain's 'hollow' forces:
