Obesity: Major risk factor to heart disease

THE HEART Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) is placing emphasis on obesity as a major risk factor for heart disease throughout Heart Month February 2022.

The month is being observed under the theme ‘The weigh to a healthy heart’.

Director at the Heart Foundation of Jamaica Dr Suzanne Soares-Wynter said the theme was strategically chosen for this year.

Dr Soares-Wynter, who is also clinical nutritionist at the Caribbean Institute for Health Research at The University of the West Indies, pointed out that one in two Jamaicans, 15 years or older, were overweight/obese, including two-thirds of Jamaican women, prior to the pandemic.

The situation has worsened over the last two years. She cited findings of a recent study conducted by the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), which showed that 80 per cent of Jamaicans, over the pandemic, reportedly gained weight and 63 per cent have changed their eating habits, not necessarily for the better.

New studies also confirmed that obesity itself can lead to heart muscle injury and heart failure, even in the absence of known markers for heart disease, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and elevated cholesterol.

Dr Soares-Wynter noted that for the last two years, Jamaicans have had to undergo changes in their lifestyles.

“We are not as active, we can’t get out as much and many of us have had to change our eating patterns. Our access to fruits and vegetables and maybe healthier foods has been impacted because of changes in our movement, loss of jobs, and then there is also the stress impact,” she said.

In keeping with this year’s theme, Jamaicans are being encouraged to take the necessary steps to help protect themselves against heart disease.

Director of Health Services and Planning in the Ministry of Health & Wellness, Dr Naydene Williams, commended the HFJ for coming up with this year’s theme.

“The Ministry of Health certainly promotes the healthy heart and the concept to the healthy heart. We want to thank the Heart Foundation for the theme, ‘the weigh to a healthy heart’, which is really strategic and catchy, and I think it will certainly stimulate persons and motivate them,” Dr Williams said.

“Everybody is pursuing health, and with health and disease, it’s almost as if there is a counterbalance, yet we want to see how it is that in consideration of ‘the weigh to a healthy heart’ we can actually achieve this health that we are pursuing,” she added.

In the meantime, Dr Soares-Wynter said that in support of bringing awareness to this year’s theme, “we just want to assure everyone that maintaining a healthy heart at this time is probably one of the best things you can do, not just for your heart but for your overall health”.

With activities for Heart Month already under way, there will be ongoing screening services at the HFJ facilities, health centre screening services across the island and several outside broadcasts.

There will also be the annual Cardiac Arrhythmias Medical Symposium to be held on February 23. The symposium with be held virtually this year via Zoom as a result of COVID-19.

Registration can be done on the HFJ website at a cost of $2,500 (doctors), $1,500 (nurses) and medical students (complimentary).