For some time now India has been undergoing a nutrition transition which boosts the development of overweight and obesity leading to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. Due to industrialisation and modernization, the diet of Indians living in urbanised areas changes from traditional diets to excessive intake of western fast food. Besides these dietary factors the rising lack of physical activity is highly associated with the rising emergence of the aforementioned disease.
According to the Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiative, in the year 2013 60% of diabetics lived in Asia, whereby India was home to the second largest population of individuals with type 2 diabetes worldwide, with 65.1 million diabetics. In contrast,
the American Diabetes Association reported 21.9 million diabetics for the year 2012. As a result, the awareness of influencing factors for the development respectively prevention of type 2 diabetes should be quite high for both countries, and even higher for the Asian Indian population. To see if this is the case, in this paper I am going to examine the English language of both cultures with the help of corpus-linguistic analysis.
Some factors influencing the emergence of type 2 diabetes were already mentioned before. Overweight and obesity are clearly the main risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes.
Asian Indians have a higher percentage of abdominal body fat compared to Europeans, which leads to a higher insulin resistance associated with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, Asian Indians have a higher prevalence for developing type 2 diabetes than other ethnic groups, even at a lower Body Mass Index. Of course, body weight is highly dependent on nutritional factors. In addition to the traditional consumption of already unhealthy white rice, refined grains and saturated fats from palm oil, especially the increased consumption of western fast food raises the intake of fat, sugar and calories.
Table of Contents
1. Theoretical and cultural Background
1.1. Main risk factors for developing Type 2 Diabetes
1.2. Awareness of influencing factors for developing and preventing Type 2 Diabetes
1.3. Awareness and use of alternative medicine for treating Diabetes
2. Leading question and presumptions
3. Method and corpus
4. Approach and results
4.1. Frequency of Type 2 Diabetes in Indian English and U.S. English
4.2. Frequency of overweight and obesity
4.3. Type 2 Diabetes and its correlation with overweight and obesity
4.4. Awareness of different forms of treatment for Type 2 Diabetes
5. Summary and discussion
6. References
Objectives and Research Themes
This paper examines the cultural awareness of Type 2 Diabetes and its primary risk factors, such as overweight and obesity, by comparing Indian English and U.S. English through corpus-linguistic analysis.
- Corpus-linguistic comparison of medical terminology in two English varieties
- Investigation of awareness levels regarding obesity as a risk factor for diabetes
- Evaluation of cultural perspectives on alternative and ayurvedic treatment methods
- Analysis of linguistic indicators for health management and lifestyle interventions
Excerpt from the Book
1.1. Main risk factors for developing Type 2 Diabetes
Some factors influencing the emergence of type 2 diabetes were already mentioned before. Overweight and obesity are clearly the main risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes (cf. Gujral 2015: 5). Asian Indians have a higher percentage of abdominal body fat compared to Europeans, which leads to a higher insulin resistance associated with type 2 diabetes (cf. Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiative (website, “Why are Asians at Higher Risk?”)). Therefore, Asian Indians have a higher prevalence for developing type 2 diabetes than other ethnic groups, even at a lower Body Mass Index (BMI1) (cf. Gujral 2015: 5, Shetty 2002: 178, Chacko 2003: 1087f., Lawton et. al. 2006: 44). Of course, body weight is highly dependent on nutritional factors (cf. Gujral 2015: 5). In addition to the traditional consumption of already unhealthy white rice, refined grains and saturated fats from palm oil, especially the increased consumption of western fast food raises the intake of fat, sugar and calories (cf. Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiative (website, “Why are Asians at Higher Risk?”)). Furthermore, the rising lack of daily physical activity in Asian Indians promotes the emergence of overweight, obesity and lastly type 2 diabetes (cf. Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiative (Ibid.)).
Summary of Chapters
1. Theoretical and cultural Background: Provides a foundation on the rise of Type 2 Diabetes in India and the USA, highlighting nutrition transition, obesity, and cultural factors.
2. Leading question and presumptions: Outlines the research intent to compare awareness levels between Indian and American cultural models using linguistic data.
3. Method and corpus: Describes the utilization of the Corpus of Global Web-Based English (GloWbE) to extract and compare frequency data across English varieties.
4. Approach and results: Presents the findings regarding frequency tokens for diabetes, obesity, and treatment methods in both target cultures.
5. Summary and discussion: Synthesizes the results, noting a generally low awareness in both cultures and addressing socioeconomic factors influencing medical knowledge.
6. References: Lists the academic sources and corpora used to conduct the study.
Keywords
Type 2 Diabetes, Indian English, U.S. English, Corpus Linguistics, Overweight, Obesity, Awareness, Ayurvedic Medicine, Health Education, Nutrition Transition, Physical Activity, Cultural Models, GloWbE, Disease Prevention, Medical Communication.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper investigates and compares the public awareness of Type 2 Diabetes and its associated risk factors between the Indian and U.S. American cultures using a corpus-linguistic approach.
What are the primary thematic areas covered?
The main themes include the link between obesity and diabetes, the role of nutrition and physical activity, and the cultural perception of conventional versus alternative medical treatments.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to determine if the linguistic usage in the Indian and U.S. English varieties reflects different levels of awareness regarding the causes and management of Type 2 Diabetes.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The author uses corpus-linguistic analysis, specifically searching the GloWbE (Corpus of Global Web-Based English) to count word frequencies and collocations related to diabetes treatments.
What is addressed in the main section of the paper?
The main section analyzes frequency data for terms like "Type 2 diabetes," "overweight," and "obesity," and examines how these concepts correlate in web-based language in India and the USA.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include Type 2 Diabetes, corpus linguistics, health awareness, obesity, nutritional transition, and cultural medical models.
Why was the GloWbE corpus chosen for this analysis?
The GloWbE corpus provides a massive, diverse dataset of web-based English, allowing for a direct comparison of linguistic trends across twenty different countries, including India and the USA.
What does the study conclude regarding alternative medicine?
The study found that, contrary to the initial presumption, evidence of discussions regarding ayurvedic or herbal treatments for diabetes was surprisingly low in the analyzed Indian English corpus.
How does socioeconomic status impact the findings?
The paper discusses that awareness of diabetes treatments is often linked to higher education levels and socioeconomic status, which may explain discrepancies in public health knowledge.
- Citation du texte
- Henriette Frädrich (Auteur), 2015, Type 2 diabetes. A comparison of the awareness in the Asian Indian Culture and the USA, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/337302
