Sharp increase in heart diseases among Lankans

by Shanika SRIYANANDA

Today's busy lifestyles with less time devoted to physical activities have made more Sri Lankans vulnerable to heart diseases, warned Consultant Cardiologist of the Colombo National Hospital, Dr. Gotabhaya Ranasinghe. He said there is a sharp increase in heart diseases among Sri Lankans due to changes in lifestyles and food consumption, stress and increased hypertension and diabetes.

"Today's people are fully stressed and this is a danger that makes your heart sick", he said.

According to Dr. Ranasinghe, though there is no proper study yet to indicate the prevalence rate of heart diseases in Sri Lanka, it is equal to that of South India which records a rate of 14 per cent. In developed nations, the prevalence rate of heart diseases is between four and eight per cent. An estimated 17 million people around the world die of heart attacks and strokes every year.

He said the most important preventive measure for heart disease is to take a healthy balanced diet with lots of vegetables and fruits plus adequate physical exercises. According to Dr. Ranasinghe, more Sri Lankans and Indians are prone to heart diseases due to high consumption of carbohydrates that leads to truncal obesity that swell the bellies. "Though Sri Lankans are not heavy meat-eaters, they eat carbohydrate-rich food that increases the danger of diabetes", he said. The risk of heart diseases is high among urban-dwellers, but according to Dr. Ranasinghe, villagers too are vulnerable as their traditional lifestyles have now changed.

They eat equal amounts of oily food and carbohydrate rich food and have moved from traditional income generation methods like farming which led to their physical fitness.

More young people below the age of 40 years have become victims of heart diseases as they suffer from high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes.