Health
DR Terfa Kene, a Public Health Physician and Medical Epidemiologist, says intake of trans-fatty acids (TFA) also known as trans-fat is associated with increased risk of heart attacks and death.
He said this while delivering a paper on Wednesday in Abuja, at the third quarter Continuing Medical Education (CME) of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), FCT Administration Chapter.
The CME had “Preventing Cardiovascular Diseases and Ototoxicity” as its theme.
Speaking on the topic “Public Health Approach to Preventing Cardiovascular Diseases”, Kene said that high trans-fat intake increases the risk of death from any cause by 34 per cent, coronary heart disease deaths by 28 per cent and coronary heart disease by 21 per cent.
He added that approximately 540,000 deaths each year could be attributed to intake of industrially produced trans-fatty acids.
He also said that while trans-fat has no known health benefits, it increases bad cholesterol levels while lowering good cholesterol levels.
According to Kene, Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHO) are the main source of industrially-produced trans-fat.
“PHO is an ingredient in many foods, including margarine, vegetable shortening, and fried foods and doughnuts, baked foods such as crackers, biscuits and pies; and pre-mixed products such as pancake and hot chocolate mix.
“Baked and fried street and restaurant foods often contain industrially-produced trans-fat.
“Manufacturers often use them as they have a longer shelf life than other fats”, he added.
The epidemiologist, however, said that healthier alternatives could be used that would not affect the taste or cost of food.
He also advocated for green vegetables to be included in daily diet as they contain Potassium, L-Arginine and Nitrates, Antioxidants and Folic Acid.
Kene, who described cardiovascular disease as a class of diseases that affect the heart or blood vessels (veins and arteries), said that it could be caused by a combination of socio-economic, behavioural and environmental risk factors.
These includes high blood pressure, unhealthy diet, high cholesterol, diabetes, air pollution, obesity, tobacco use, kidney disease, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol and stress.
Also, family history, ethnic background, sex and age could affect a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease and are not modifiable.
Speaking on high sodium intake, he said that excess dietary sodium intake increases blood pressure and consequently increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
He, however, said that reducing sodium intake was an effective way to lower blood pressure and thus reduce cardiovascular diseases.
Kene said that to reverse the trend, policies to reduce salt intake and provide people with the information they need to make the right food choices should be established.
He also said that there was need for food and beverage industries to cut sodium levels in processed foods.
The Chairman, MDCAN, FCTA Chapter, Dr Emmanuel Musa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the third quarterly meeting was to discuss issues about preventing cardiovascular diseases.
“We are also discussing issues about preventing ototoxicity. As doctors it is not enough for us to sit down in the clinic, treating patients, these patients are coming from the community and it is better to treat the source.
“Why are these patients coming with this problems? So the right thing is for us to concentrate on the community because prevention is not just better than cure, prevention is indeed the cure.
“If you can prevent people from coming up with these diseases, then you are going to have less work in the hospital”, Musa said.
The chairman said it was observed that many patients may not even present themselves at the hospital and so may not even know that they have cardiovascular disease.
“That is why we are focusing on prevention in this quarter. So we are educating ourselves, educating the public, creating awareness so that we can achieve more.
“So this is just the continuous professional development aspect of the meeting and at the end of this meeting, we are going to have our ordinary general meeting where we are going to deliberate and discuss on the health and development of our countries.”
NAN reports that the meeting which takes place every quarter is for consultants or medical and dental specialist under the employment of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.(NAN)
A.I
Tags: Dr Terfa Kene Partially Hydrogenated Oils trans-fatty acids
