New IIT-Hyderabad Study Reveals That Indians’ Brains Are The Smallest In Size

At IIT-Hyderabad, researchers have created the first Indian Brain Atlas in the world. This is just a fancy definition for a template for Indians’ brains.

Through this study, it is revealed that compared to Eastern and Western people, Indians have a smaller brain, in terms of size, width as well as volume.

The research can be found in the Neurology India journal. The ones who are behind this study are Jayanthi Sivaswamy and her team who are working at the Centre for Visual Information Technology.

Sivaswamy stated that while the Montreal Neurological Institute template created based on the brains of the Caucasians is considered a standard globally, it is not suitable for deciphering the Indian population’s brain differences.

When compared to the Montreal Neurological Institute template, the Indians have smaller brains. The difference in scans can lead to misdiagnosis, which is alarming. The study points out that it is necessary to construct a larger atlas to learn what is normal, which would help with the early detection of several brain conditions.

She also talked about while there are templates for the Korean and Chinese population, they are still different from the brain dimensions of the Indians.

The IIT Hyderabad team has created specific templates for Indians only, using data taken from 50 participants with a balance between the number of male and female individuals.

According to Jayanthi, these subjects’ MRI scans were carried out from three different hospitals and from three different scanners to see the differences in scanning machines.

She said:

Jayanthi also mentioned the significant differences regarding the dimensions of the brain.

The researchers will make use of these brain scans to decipher the mysteries of incurable brain-related diseases, trying to find the answers, like dementia and Alzheimer’s as they have a connection with the hippocampus’s occurrences.