Myth Buster: Debunking myths around heart ailments
Know facts about Heart-related myths.
By Sunanda Naik Published on 22 Jun 2023 11:16 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A heart disease could be any problem or difficulty affecting the heart and its functioning, such as coronary artery disease, arrhythmia, and heart failure. Simple and appropriate lifestyle choices and changes can prevent many of these conditions from occurring. Proper medication can help manage them too. But how well do we know these conditions?
1. Heart diseases are genetic and pass from one generation to the next. You cannot protect yourself if the fault is in your genes.
Not all heart diseases have a genetic predisposition, except for 10-20% of heart conditions, which can be prevented by proactive prevention and early checkups from childhood onwards.
2. You can eat anything as long as you take cholesterol-lowering drugs.
No, this is a myth. In spite of taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, you still need to follow strict dietary and lifestyle modifications. We need to keep bad cholesterol LDL (low-density lipoprotein) less than 100mg/dl during our lifespan, preferably less than 70 mg/dl or 50 mg/dl if the person has a family history of early sudden death i.e. death below the age of 50 years among their parents of first degree relatives (cousins, uncles).
In India genetically predisposed high triglycerides levels of more than 200mg/dl and low HDL (high-density lipoprotein) levels of less than 30 mg/dl are very common. To mitigate this risk factor strict dietary and lifestyle modifications are needed from childhood.
Those who are genetically predisposed to Early CHD (coronary heart disease) may have high Lp(a) or Lipoprotein (a) more than 30mg/dl as profound risk factors for early atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. So those who have a family history of CAD should have their Lp(a) checked by the age of 10 years.
3. Diabetes won’t cause heart disease under proper medication.
No, diabetes itself is a 100% risk factor for heart disease. According to WHO, diabetic patients should be treated as pre-existing heart disease patients.
4. Young people do not need to worry about heart problems
No, this is not true. Those who have a family history of heart disease need to go for a heart checkup at the age of 10 and those who don’t have a family history can get their heart checked when they reach 20 years of age.
5. You must avoid exercising if you have heart problems.
No, although you must avoid extremely strenuous exercises, doing balanced exercises under the supervision of trained fitness experts can be good for the heart.
