KOCHI: Salim Yusuf, former president of World Heart Federation, has stressed the need for making preventive cardiology a major intervention.
Addressing the Presidents’ Conclave at the ongoing Cardiological Society of India conference here on Friday, he highlighted the alarming rise in heart diseases in Kerala, which, he said, was three times the national average. He also called for a diet change by adding more fruits in place of carbohydrates to arrest the trend.
The increasing trend of heart diseases can be seen across South-East Asian countries, he added.
“High carbohydrate diet should be controlled as much as a fatty diet. Fruits will provide the best fillip,” Dr. Yusuf said.
Citing the pro-active intervention by the American Heart Association in this regard, he said the results had indicated a significant pullback in the burden of heart diseases.
American Heart Association president Mark Creager said while diabetes was seen as a rising risk factor for heart diseases, other issues like hypertension and cholesterol needed to be kept under control as a preventive step.
Low fruit intake
Cardiologist Geevar Zachariah said fruit intake was very low in Kerala. Of the recommended three to five servings a day, people who had at least one fruit a day is less that 10 per cent. Dr. Zachariah was part of a major study conducted by CSI Kerala chapter. The study titled ‘Coronary Artery Disease and Risk Factor Prevalence’ was published in BioMed Central , an open access journal early this year.
“The study could not quantify the intake of vegetables by people, but the impression gathered was that even vegetarians did not take as much vegetables as required,” Dr. Zachariah said.
Among the other findings of the study were elevated levels of cholesterol in around 52 per cent of the population, 28-30 per cent of adult population having high blood pressure and 15 per cent with diabetes.
