Life ends at 40 due to fatty, high-cholesterol food: Doctors
Life ends at 40 due to fatty, high-cholesterol food: Doctors
Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Forty-three-year-old Andriansyah had a heart attack and died
in a commuter train in Depok, south of Jakarta last week. His
family said that he had never shown any symptoms of illness
before.
"I just guessed the sudden chest pains he had been having were
caused by tiredness at work, so we never checked it with the
doctor," Ratna, Andriansyah's wife, said.
She said that based on the doctor's examination, Andri's death
was because his blood vessels were clogged by a fatty plaque that
led to heart failure.
Slamet Suyono, chairman of the Association of Indonesian
Experts on Atherosclerosis and Vascular Diseases (PAPVI) said on
Saturday that atherosclerosis was caused by the lifestyle that
modern people had adopted, which led to the development of
atherosclerosis.
"Most people in big cities like to eat fatty food with a high
cholesterol content and are too sluggish to burn them through
exercise. As a result, they stack the fat and cholesterol in
their blood vessels," he told The Jakarta Post.
Speaking on the sidelines of a symposium and workshop on
atherosclerosis held by PAPVI and medical manufacturer Aventis
Pharma, Slamet said that stress at work and bad habits, like
smoking, also caused atherosclerosis.
Slamet, also an internist, said that a recent study showed
there was an increase in the prevalence of diabetes, obesity and
hypertension to 12 percent last year from 5.69 percent in 1992.
Cardiologist Fadilah Supari said that people suffering from
diabetes, obesity and hypertension tended to develop
atherosclerosis in their bodies and were prone to cardiovascular
diseases.
She suggested that men over 35 years old consult their doctors
to detect atherosclerosis because in general it affects men over
40 and women over 50.
"It takes years for atherosclerosis to develop because it
gradually grows from fatty streaks in the blood vessels to the
formation of fibrous plaque and complicated lesions. The plaque
rupture will cause acute coronary syndrome, strokes and
gangrene," she said.
Another cardiologist, T. Santoso, said people could detect
atherosclerosis earlier if they recognized symptoms like pain in
the calf, chest, neck, or other parts of the body.
"Usually the pain lasts only five minutes or so before it goes
away. It shows that your blood vessels are clogged," he said,
adding that internists have test devices to detect
atherosclerosis.
Santoso said that once atherosclerosis manifested itself, the
patient should take medicine to prevent the plaque in the blood
vessel from getting worse.
He said that "Ramipril" was a medicine that more than 9,000
high-risk patients, mostly from the U.S. and Canada, with
cardiovascular diseases have tried and reacted positively to.
Santoso said that the medication was proven to be effective in
reducing the mortality rate by 22 percent. Side effects, such as
coughs and sore throats, occurred in only 0.1 percent of
patients.
The medicine is used in the treatment of hypertension and
congenital heart failure. The medicine is available at the
country's pharmacies and clinics at Rp 12,500 (US$1.3) per
tablet.