Media Release

Mangaluru, Jul 22: The world's heritage diets could hold vital clues to better health. Writing in Nature Medicine (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04520-5), researchers from 12 countries, including India, have launched the World Diet Initiative, a global effort to document and study these diets before this knowledge is lost.

Prof Dr Anirban Chakraborty, director of the Nitte University Centre for Science Education & Research, Nitte (Deemed to be University), is leading the regional network in India.

People around the world have practised distinct diets for thousands of years. Maasai communities in East Africa are known for diets rich in animal products such as milk, meat and blood. In Ethiopia, diets are largely plant-based, featuring pulses, vegetables and grains, often fermented. Indian meals draw on a rich array of spices, while across the Pacific, fish, taro and coconut are commonplace.

For instance, "The traditional diet of Mangalore's fishing community revolves around the 'rice-fish-coconut' triad—a reflection of a culture where cuisine is intimately tied to the changing seasons and whatever the daily catch or harvest brings," says Dr Anirban Chakraborty, head of the regional network in India.

These heritage diets have developed over generations, shaped by the foods available in the local environment and the ways they are prepared. In communities that still follow them, chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease are often rare.

Dietary Diversity Disappearing Rapidly

Heritage diets around the world are being replaced by uniform, Western-style diets featuring the same industrially processed foods. As these diets disappear, so too does a precious opportunity to understand how they shape human health.

The World Diet Initiative aims to close this gap through two components:

The World Diet Atlas will map heritage diets worldwide, detailing the foods and how they are sourced, prepared and consumed. It will be a freely available resource for researchers, policymakers and communities.

The World Diet Project will study the biological effects of these diets using consistent methods, enabling findings to be compared across populations.

The initiative will operate as a global consortium. Local partners will lead the research and retain ownership, while findings will be shared responsibly with researchers around the world.

"We are really excited to be a part of this initiative, and we believe research of this nature is the need of the hour," said Prof M S Moodithaya, Vice-Chancellor of Nitte (Deemed to be University).

Changes within Two Weeks

Recent work by some of the initiative's founders offers a glimpse into how studying heritage diets can reveal new insights into the relationship between food and health.

In a trial conducted in Tanzania's Kilimanjaro region, men who switched from their local heritage diet—rich in legumes, whole grains and fermented foods—to a processed, Western-style diet showed increased inflammation and other biological changes linked to chronic disease within just two weeks.

Those who switched in the opposite direction, or consumed a traditional fermented millet-and-banana drink, experienced the opposite effects.

Not a Blueprint for Healthy Eating

The researchers stress that the initiative is not a nostalgic call to return to traditional eating habits, nor does it claim that heritage diets are always healthier.

Rather, these diets affect the body—including the immune system, metabolism and microbiome—in strikingly different ways, and each has valuable lessons to offer.

"These diets are not a blueprint for healthy eating, but they are biologically and culturally unique. Food influences our health in many ways and plays an important role in preventing disease," said Quirijn de Mast of Radboud University Medical Center, co-lead of the initiative.

"With the World Diet Initiative, we are now building the infrastructure to capture this knowledge and translate insights from heritage diets into health benefits for people worldwide."

For more information, refer to the paper published in Nature Medicine on July 15, 2026 (DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04520-5)