World Heart Day today (September 29).
This year's theme of the day is ''.Heart Disease Prevention with Heart.
The day is celebrated around the world to raise public awareness about heart disease. Bangladesh has been celebrating the day with due dignity since 2000.
On this occasion, various public and private organizations including the Ministry of Health, National Heart Foundation and World Health Organization have organized seminars and free medical checkups.
In Bangladesh alone, 260,000 people die of heart disease every year, of which 4.41 percent is due to trans fat. Trans saturated fat is one of the factors that increases the risk of ischemia heart disease.
Bangladesh is among the 15 countries at highest risk of death due to trans fat heart disease. Around two and a half million people in the world have died of heart attacks due to trans fat.
Cardiovascular disease or heart disease tops the list as the single leading cause of death worldwide. The main source of trans fat is Persial Hydrogenated Oil (PHO) which is known as Dalda or Vegetable Ghee in Bangladesh.
Statistics show that children and women are at higher risk of heart disease. Heart disease is currently/recently the number one fatal disease in the world.
There is not much publicity about the severity of heart disease. According to the World Heart Federation, it is difficult for anyone to stay at risk for heart disease without a healthy diet and a smoke-free environment.
Cardiologist and former director of the National Heart Institute, Professor. Afzalur Rahman said that trans fat is a harmful fatty food. It lowers the levels of HDL or good cholesterol in the blood and increase the levels of LDL or bad cholesterol. Excessive levels of bad cholesterol /LDL in the blood increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
He said the more Trans saturated fat a person consumes, the higher his risk of heart disease and vascular disease. Trans fat is so unhealthy food that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently banned food manufacturers from adding artificial trans saturated fats as a major source of food and beverages.
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