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Diet plays huge role in risk as education program, conference aim to reduce the rate of heart disease among South Asians Heart disease in South Asians ❚ While heart disease is generally thought of as a disease affecting older people, South Asians have a high chance of getting heart disease at a younger age. ❚ Heart disease tends to be more severe among South Asians – it tends to occur all along an artery instead of just one or two spots in the artery. ❚ Rates of heart disease among South Asian women are as high as men. ❚ Many South Asian children have shown early risk factors. ❚ A strong link exists between diabetes and heart disease among South Asians. ❚ South Asians tend to have more fat around their abdomen, abnormal levels of cholesterol, high insulin, and high blood pressure. SOURCE: southasianhealth.org
Amanda OYE
Now Contributor
Tarsem Malhi, who is 44 and stays fit by running marathons, seems like an unlikely candidate for cardiovascular disease. His South Asian heritage put him in a higher risk category though, and last August he had to have unexpected openheart surgery. Malhi, who immigrated from India when he was 12, was told by hospital doctors that he had most likely had silent heart attacks that went unnoticed. After having open-heart surgery, Malhi completed the nine-week SunLife Financial Punjabi Cardiac Rehabilitation Education Program at Surrey Memorial Hospital. The program, which was established in 2008, is designed specifically for South Asians, offering them treatment in their native language. It was started in response to the large number of South Asians who suffer from cardiovascular related illness. TARSEM “The major eye-openMALHI/ er for me was the diet,” “The major Malhi said. eye-opener The program made for me was him realize that he the diet.” needed to change what he was putting into his body. “There is a huge difference between being fit and being healthy,” he said. The program at Surrey Memorial Hospital helped him to make better choices without forcing him to switch to Western food. “Being in the program taught me I can still consume the East Indian foods I have grown up with, I just need to change how they are cooked and what components are put into them.” Not everyone makes the transition to a healthier lifestyle easily though. “I think success is variable,” said Dr. Raymond Dong, a cardiologist at Surrey Memorial Hospital, adding some people have more support to make the change than others. “The hurdles we have to overcome are culturally specific,” he said. This includes lowering the amount of saturated fats in patients’ diets, and limiting the amount of fried foods. Fraser Health and Simon Fraser University are also helping to minimize the high rate of heart disease among South Asians. They hosted the CanadaIndia Cardiovascular Health Conference from June 19 to 23 to find out why South Asians have a high rate of cardiovascular disease, and to generate ideas for how to deal with the issue. The Canada India Network Society organized the conference, held at SFU in Surrey and BCIT.
TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2010
Sam’s a bit beat up, but he’s home again
Surrey firefighter returns missing lawn jockey to Cloverdale couple but passes on $1,000 reward – roast beef dinner is reward enough 5
Sam the lawn jockey is back at the Cloverdale home he shares with Joan and Ira Davis. The concrete statue was stolen from in front of their house on the night of June 12 and returned last Friday after ❚PHOTO/Ted Colley a story about the theft ran on the front page of the Now. See full story on page 5.