The Abdominal Obesity Timebomb (Part 6)

Malaysia, as well as other Asia Pacific countries along with other emerging economic nations cannot be said to have achieved their target in controlling the worsening 'epidemic' of their population getting impaired glucose tolerance (a prediabetic condition) and finally full blown diabetes with all its complications of proteinuria leading to kidney failure, retinopathy progressing to blindness, diabetic skin disease, stroke and heart attack.

What needs to be urgently tackled is aggressive campaigning against unhealthy lifestyle and strict monitoring of parameters that are known to contribute to increased cardiometabolic risks coupled with aggressive therapy to lower the levels of cholesterol and keep blood pressure and blood glucose within the internationally accepted safe standards.

The new treatment paradigm is now in favour of treating the new emerging cardiac risks factors, in particular abdominal obesity, besides lowering blood pressure, LDL, Triglyserides,and certain (blood vessel) inflammatory markers.

As a fitting end to this series, our Honourable Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, himself a vegetarian and nutritionist by profession, is quoted in the Star yesterday, saying that the number of obese adults have risen to 50% among 13 million individuals. Though 10 to 15%, he said, is due to genetic predisposition, we all know that there is still a long battle to go for many people to keep themselves from bulging to dangerous proportions.

The Abdominal Obesity Timebomb (Part 5)

T2D (Type 2 Diabetes) is the type that most diabetics have compared to Type 1 which occurs in the younger age group and is insulin dependant.



So, now we have a new nemesis to contend with, i.e. abdominal obesity, apart from the 3 establised risk factors stated above.

The Abdominal Obesity Timebomb (Part 4)

The Abdominal Obesity Timebomb (Part 3)

The above study is a joint effort by Medical Research Council(MRC) and British Heart Foundation(BHF) done in 2002 which is a really, really big trial involving more than 20,000 individuals from various age group and medical conditions (diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease) to prove that simvastatin, a cholesterol lowering statin drug does lower LDL cholesterol level and prevent cardiovascular event over the 5 year study period and may obviously confer more benefits if carried over long term. There is no significant adverse effects such as cancer or osteoporosis.

However, do note that despite being on simvastatin and a lowered LDL cholesterol level, there is still an almost 20% chance of getting a cardiovascular event (stroke, heart attack etc) though this is much lower compared to those who are not on statin medication.

So far, we have considered high cholesterol levels (LDL), diabetes and hypertension as major contributors of coronary artery disease but there are other factors as well such as HDL and Triglycerides which I will not elaborate further. Did we miss out anything else?

The Abdominal Obesity Timebomb (Part 2)

High blood pressure and diabetes are just 2 major cardiometabolic risk factors that can cause increased incidence of MI (myocardial infarction = heart attack)as noted in the findings above.

More to come....

The Abdominal Obesity Timebomb (Part 1)

I'm starting a series on the cardiometabolic risks of abdominal obesity based on peer reviewed research papers made locally and worldwide. Studies have shown that being overweight/obese is a major underlying cause of heart disease. A worrying trend is that, for the past ten years, the number of Malaysians affected have increased by 78% (National Morbidity Survey 1996 - 2006). To start off, let's look at the common causes of death in Malaysia (and United States for comparison).



(part of Sanofi Aventis educational program)
Please note that these findings are based on facts, and is not part of any promotional drive.