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.