Author: Zac Ch’ng, Nutritionist

Do you know what is the disease that has been the top killer for the past 10 years? The answer is ischemic heart disease (IHD), a type of heart disease. The prevalence of IHD in Malaysia is increasing year by year, and now the ratio is close to 1 in 4 deaths. Such disease that used to occur in the elderly happens among the young people too. Today, many Malaysians in their 20s and 30s suffer from heart disease.

What causes high incidence of IHD?  There may be many reasons, but the following are the critical and modifiable one.

• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• High blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels
• Overweight/Obesity
• Diabetes
• Stress
• Lack of physical activity
• Unhealthy diet such as high trans-fat, salt and saturated fat intake

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) can causes chest pain because part of the heart cannot not get enough blood.  If IHD occurs, the heart tissue will be damaged or permanently die.  This may affect the heart rhythm and its ability to pump blood to other parts of the body. The result is the increased risk of another heart attack or stroke, kidney disease, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

How can these complications be life-threatening?

• Stroke can cause severe damage to language, cognition, motor and sensory skills. It may be temporary, but most of the time it is a permanent disability.
• Kidney disease causes waste and fluids accumulate in the body. This can cause swollen ankles, nausea, weakness, poor sleep, and shortness of breath. The kidneys may eventually stop working and ultimately endanger life.
• People with PAD will experience painful symptoms and undergo amputation, resulting loss of leg, reduced quality of life, high medical costs, and shortened life expectancy.

Therefore, we should try our best to control the modifiable factors. A healthy diet is the best remedy against heart disease because it can affect other controllable risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, and overweight.

We should emphasize on the intake of nutrient-dense food such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; and include omega-3 rich vegetable oils and nuts; and limit the intake of calorie-dense food such as sweets, sugary drinks, and fried food.  To achieve a better result, we can opt for a supplement formula that contains multiple sources of fruits and vegetable extract to boost up the nutrient needed, healthy omega-3 rich fish or nut oil to replace saturated fat, and finally include sugar blocker and fat blocker to inhibit absorption of excess calorie.

It is never too late to take steps to prevent heart disease, even if we already diagnosed with the condition, let healthy eating be our first step towards a healthy heart and a better life.