The Pangi Valley Diet: Characterizing a traditional Himalayan tribal dietary pattern with potential for...

Traditional dietary patterns of isolated indigenous populations have repeatedly demonstrated protective effects against non-communicable diseases (NCDs), yet most defined, named and operationalized protective dietary patterns originate from European or Western contexts. Here characterization of the traditional dietary pattern of the Pangwal and Bot (Bhot) communities of Pangi Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India hereinafter termed the, "Pangi Valley Diet (PVD)" as a distinct, named, and scientifically grounded protective dietary pattern analogous to geographically bounded, ecologically constrained dietary pattern whose structural features parallel other cardio metabolic-protective traditional diets like the Mediterranean diet is being proposed. Drawing exclusively on existing ethnographic, nutritional, and ecological literature, this paper describes the compositional features of the PVD, maps its active bioactive constituents to known NCD-protective mechanisms, and proposes a preliminary scoring framework for its operationalisation in research and clinical contexts. The PVD is characterized by low-glycemic index whole grains, fermented foods, high-altitude yak and chauri dairy with favorable fatty acid profiles, wild edible plants with high antioxidant and phytochemical loads, near-zero refined carbohydrate and processed food content, and a naturally favorable sodium-to-potassium ratio. These features, emerging from ecological constraint and centuries of agro-pastoral adaptation rather than dietary prescription, collectively constitute a biologically plausible protective dietary pattern.