Bengal Famine Changed South Asian DNA

Famine is a situation where a man-made food crisis happens, defined by extreme hunger and malnutrition. In the famine that struck Bengal in 1943, was caused by the British colonial which they block the food supply to the starving civilians and prioritize military needs.

This famine cause massive loss of life because of malaria and cholera. This caused an immense suffering that leads to a change in genetic expression.

Their body was switched to “survival mode.” They started to require less calories to fuel their body, hence they could eat less food to survive. Our body stores excess energy (like glucose) in fat for energy reserves. Because the “enough” threshold was lowered, when there is no more famine and has enough food supply, the fat will be easily stacked and could lead to Type 2 diabetes. People who stores more fat had higher chance in survivability back then and will be able to survive starvation.

The altered genes were inherited to todays generation. Now, South Asians develop risk of type 2 diabetes by age 25 while Europeans develop the risk by age 40.