Why your heart health matters ❤️
American Heart Month is a reminder about South Asian Americans’ disproportionately higher risks for cardiovascular ailments.
This post originally appeared on Red, White and Brown’s newsletter on Substack (Issue #54 sent on Feb. 23, 2023).
Every February, we’re reminded about the importance of heart health during American Heart Month. Heart disease remains the #1 leading documented cause of death in the United States.
It’s also a reminder about its peculiar impact on people of South Asian descent. As I’ve previously noted in this newsletter, South Asians account for 60% of all heart disease cases worldwide, even though — at about 2 billion people — we make up only a quarter of the planet’s population.
The impact on young South Asians is also alarming. According to the Stanford South Asian Translational Heart Initiative, South Asians generally develop coronary artery disease up to a decade earlier than most. Additionally, “25% of heart attacks occur under age 40 for young South Asians, and 50% occur under age 50.”
While the leading Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) Study continues to research and better understand why our communities have these disproportionate risks, here are some good resources to check out:
- Reducing South Asian heart attack risk with culturally tailored care (UT Southwestern Medical Center)
- Health class may influence heart risk in South Asians (American Heart Association)
- Lifestyle recommendations from the South Asian Heart Center (El Camino Hospital)
- “I’m a cardiologist with a higher risk for heart disease. Here’s what I’m doing to lower my risk.” (Interview with Dr. Sandeep Jauhar in Insider)
- Cardiologists share the foods they never — or rarely — eat (HuffPost)
- Push is on in US to figure out South Asians’ high heart risks (Kaiser Health News)
- Dr. Alka Kanaya, MASALA’s principal investigator and a professor at the University of California — San Francisco (UCSF), has previously recommended people get cardiac CT scans, which she said help identify high-risk patients, those who need to make more aggressive lifestyle changes and those who may need preventive medication. Check out the latest publications from the MASALA team, which is led by leading researchers from UCSF, Northwestern and New York University. One new finding revealed the quality of plant-based diets and their connection to helping reduce health risks: “A higher intake of healthful plant-based foods was associated with a favorable cardiometabolic risk profile. Dietary recommendations to lower chronic disease risks among participants of South Asian ancestry should focus on the quality of plant-based foods.”
Vignesh Ramachandran is co-founder of Red, White and Brown Media, which facilitates substantive conversations through the lens of South Asian American race and identity — via journalism, social media and events. He’s on Twitter and Instagram via @VigneshR.
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