New Delhi: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay have identified hidden blood markers that could help detect diabetes risk early, paving the way for more accurate and personalised treatments.
India, often called the diabetes capital of the world, has around 101 million adults living with diabetes and another 136 million with prediabetes.
Traditional tests, such as fasting blood glucose and HbA1c, capture only part of the metabolic changes linked to the disease and may not predict who is most at risk.
The IIT Bombay team used metabolomics, the study of small molecules in the blood, to uncover biochemical patterns associated with diabetes.
These metabolites reveal subtle chemical shifts in the body that appear before symptoms arise.
“Type 2 diabetes is not just about high blood sugar. It disrupts amino acids, fats, and other pathways in the body.
Standard tests often miss these early signs,” explained Sneha Rana, doctoral scholar at IIT Bombay.
In a study published in the Journal of Proteome Research, the team analysed blood samples from 52 volunteers at Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad between June 2021 and July 2022, including healthy individuals, diabetic patients, and those with diabetic kidney disease (DKD).
Using advanced mass spectrometry techniques, they identified 26 metabolites that differed between healthy and diabetic individuals, some known markers like glucose and cholesterol, and others newly linked to diabetes, such as Valero betaine, ribothymidine, and fructosyl pyroglutamate.
According to Prof Pramod Wangikar from IIT Bombay, these findings show that diabetes is a complex metabolic disorder that affects multiple biochemical pathways, not just glucose regulation.
The team also found seven metabolites that increased progressively from healthy individuals to those with diabetic kidney disease, suggesting their potential role in predicting complications.