Healthy diet, lifestyle best defence to fight CVD: Dr Sushil

STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Emphasising upon the importance of identifying systemic solutions to diet related health outcomes particularly in context of growing burden of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD), Dr Sushil Sharma conducted a day-long camp at Gurdwara Singh Sabha during Shaheedi Diwas of Shri Guru Teg Bahadur.
The team was invited by Pradhan of the Gurdwara Committee to screen inhabitants so that those suffering from cardiac ailments start following a strict diet, medicine and exercise schedule. The team examined more than 300 inhabitants about the prevalence of cardiac disease. Suspected patients with symptoms of heart disease were advised blood-sugar, BP and cholesterol tests, which were done at the venue by trained and experienced team of paramedics.
While interacting with people, Dr Sushil mentioned that data relating diet to cardiovascular diseases has predominantly been generated from high income countries, but over 80 per cent of CVD deaths occur in low and middle income countries. “It is primarily because of lifestyle transitions associated with increasing urbanisation and unhealthy behaviour. The global burden of disease study cites diet as a major factor behind rise in hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and other CVD components. Moreover, unhealthy dietary patterns have negative environmental impacts, notably on climate change,” he added.
Dr Sushil informed that poor quality diets are high in refined grains and added sugars, salt, unhealthy fats and animal-source foods, and low in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish and nuts. “They are often high in processed food products, typically packaged and often ready to consume whereas light on whole foods and freshly prepared dishes. The way people eat has changed greatly in our societies. Snacking and snack foods have grown in frequency and number, away from home eating in restaurants, in fast food outlets, and from take-out meals is increasing dramatically. This all indicates that overall proportion of highly processed food in diets has grown,” he said.
Dr Sushil further added that families and individuals can play a pivotal role in selecting quality of their diet. Health related professionals have important contributions to disseminate dietary guidelines sensitive to these issues. Most notably, educational institutions can improve curricula and build capacity among nutrition and public health students and professionals to identify and implement healthy dietary patterns among people, he asserted.
Management Committee of Gurdwara Singh Sabha comprising Jagmohan Singh, Dr Harbhajan Singh, Dr Surjeet Singh, Jagbir Singh, Sarabjeet Singh, Satwant Singh, Gurdeep Singh and Paramjeet Singh appreciated the efforts of Dr Sushil and his team for conducting cardiac awareness camp on the auspicious day.
Others who were part of this humane effort included, Dr Nasir Ali Choudhary (Cardiologist), Dr Saqib Samim and Dr Rasmeet Kour. Paramedics and volunteers who were part of the team included Kamal Kishore, Raghav Rajput , Mohammad Altaf, Vikas Kumar, Anmol Singh, Akshay Kumar, Aman Gupta, Harvinder Singh, Amandeep Singh and Rajkumar.