How the cheap, unhealthy oil became the high-fructose corn syrup of the developing world.

Dr. Anoop Misra drew back the flimsy curtain in his office, and the patient stepped down from the exam table, gently tugging the bottom of his shirt so as to obscure a considerable midsection. “I’m not here to give you sweet words,” said the soft-spoken endocrinologist, who, in addition to seeing patients six days a week at this upscale health center in New Delhi, chairs India’s National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation. Dressed in a white lab coat and with neatly parted, thick gray hair, Misra reclaimed his position behind the desk and turned his attention to the patient’s wife. What does she cook at home, he wanted to know, and using what kinds of oil? “The diet is all fried,” said the doctor after the couple had gone. “This man is 62 and has already suffered a heart attack seven years ago.”