DOHA: With about 1,600 heart attacks in Qatar last year, experts at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) have advised people to fight the lure of eating out and stick to a healthy diet.
The growing fast food culture and changing lifestyles have made even women and young people, who are less likely to develop heart attacks, vulnerable.
“An even more alarming factor is the rise in heart diseases among the youth. Of the total angiograms performed last year, 2.5 percent were among people aged below 30 years and some 25 percent were among those aged 30 to 40,” Dr Omar Al Tamimi, a senior consultant at Heart Hospital, told mediapersons yesterday.
Diabetes, hypertension and smoking are major risk factors associated with heart attacks in Qatar and globally and the growing fast food culture is said to be a major contributing factor. “Healthy diet and regular physical exercise are two important things to prevent heart diseases.
We have concerns about the growing fast food culture in the region and we are advising people to reduce the habit of eating out and go for healthy food cooked at home,” said Al Tamimi.
The Peninsula
