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R/£ Heart disease rising among SA's blacks
April 17, 2007 Edition 1
OMESHNIE NAIDOO
URBAN black South Africans who have adopted a "western" and fast-food diet are heralding a new epidemic of artery disease in the country.
The chief culprits for the rise in ischaemic artery disease among South Africa's emerging black middle class appear to be fast-food diets, physical inactivity and smoking.
Until recently, those most vulnerable to heart disease and the genetically inherited high cholesterol disorder, FH, were people of Jewish, Indian (one in 100) and Afrikaans descent (one in 75).
The FH condition is estimated to affect one in 500 South Africans. At present, one in three men and one in four women will suffer from cardiovascular disease.
But a report compiled by a joint South African-Australian research team using case studies from Johannesburg's Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, found that of the 154 Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients worked with at Baragwanath in 2004, 42% were black, 32% were white and 26% Asian. The average age was 56 and 71% were men.
"Even though cardiac illness has become such a threat within the black community it's still traditionally seen as an illness that won't affect them," explains Shân Biesman-Simons, director of nutrition and education at the Heart and Stroke Foundation SA.
According to a Medical Research Council (MRC) report, the black population is undergoing a transition from a traditional high-fibre, high-carbohydrate intake to a more typically western diet, which has an increased fat and added sugar intake, a lower unrefined carbohydrate intake and an increased intake of animal protein sources and saturated fat. Despite the fact that stunting and chronic energy deficiency still affects a large number of black infants and children, these eating patterns are nevertheless reflected in the high prevalence of obesity in the adult and child population.
Prof Krisela Steyn, of the department of medicine at the University of Cape Town, said heart disease was easily prevented. "Despite a lack of statistics, we have found only 12% of men with hypertension are controlling their condition, showing chronic disease as a whole is poorly managed. There is an urgent need for more population data and surveillance to understand heart disease and create awareness."
Experts say a health transition must occur; people need to follow healthy diets, engage in physical activity and live alcohol and smoke-free lives. If a member of your family has heart disease, check your cholesterol and sugar.
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