Jammu, Dec 17: A day-long cardiac awareness-cum-health checkup camp was organized on the occasion of Shaheedi Diwas of Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Ji at Gurudwara Singh Sabha here on Sunday. The event, led by Dr Sushil Sharma from the Department of Cardiology, GMC and Super Speciality Hospital, Jammu, aimed to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of cardiovascular diseases and promote a healthier lifestyle among the community.
The camp was inaugurated by Mahant Manjeet Singh Ji, accompanied by Dr Sushil Sharma and prominent members of the Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.
While interacting with the people, Dr Sushil said that heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. He attributed 10 percent of all deaths to coronary heart disease and 25 percent to cardiovascular disease.
“Although there is not one single cause, an unhealthy diet can be one of the contributing risk factors for heart disease,” he said, adding that heart disease results from the narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with blood through a process known as atherosclerosis.
Emphasising healthy heart diet, the doctor said, “We should limit fried fast food and processed foods and replace energy from saturated fats (such as butter, coconut oil and cream) with healthy unsaturated fats from seeds and plants (such as extra virgin olive oil, avocado, sunflower, canola, safflower, peanut, soybean and sesame) and foods such as nuts, seeds, avocado, olives and soy.”
He called for increasing the amount and variety of plant foods, eating more vegetables, fruits and wholegrain cereals and reducing the intake of refined sources of carbohydrates with higher glycaemic index (including foods with added sugars). “These small changes in the food eating habits and lifestyle can lead to a drastic improvement in the cardiac health of society as a whole thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality and improve quality of life,” he said.
Evidence shows the effectiveness of healthy dietary patterns and lifestyles for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, Dr Sharma said. He said the rising incidence of these diseases over the last 25 years has become a public health priority.
“Current scientific evidence shows that Western dietary patterns compared to healthier dietary patterns, such as the ‘Mediterranean diet’, leads to an excessive production of pro-inflammatory cytokines associated with a reduced synthesis of anti-inflammatory cytokines,” he said.
The cardiologist conveyed that these dietary and lifestyle changes could significantly improve cardiac health, reducing morbidity and mortality while enhancing the overall quality of life. He presented evidence supporting the effectiveness of healthy dietary patterns and emphasized lifestyle interventions for preventing cardiovascular diseases.
The Gurudwara Singh Sabha Management Committee, including S. Jagmohan Singh, Dr Surjit Singh Raina and Kuldeep Singh expressed their appreciation for Dr Sushil and his team’s efforts in organizing the cardiac awareness cum health checkup camp. They extended their heartfelt gratitude for the initiative.
The camp witnessed the participation of Dr Vivek Sharma, Cardiologist, along with Dr Yashwant Sharma, Dr Anitipal Singh, and Dr Dhaneshwer Kapoor. Paramedics and volunteers, including Raghav Rajput, Kamal Sharma, Amandeep Singh, Harvinder Singh, Rohit Nayyar, Arun Singh, Gourav Sharma, Rajinder Singh, Vikas kumar, Vinay Kumar, Gagan Gupta, Jatin Bhasin, Faisal Rashid, Rahul Sharma, Sheikh Abrar, Rajkumar and Nirvair Singh Bali actively contributed to the success of the event.
