2007年VOA标准英语-Study Explains Why South Asians Have More Heart

By David McAlary
Washington
16 January 2007

South Asians make up 1/4 of the world's population. Researchers have known that they tend to have heart attacks at earlier ages than people from other parts of the world. Now they have identified the reasons why. VOA's David McAlary explains from Washington.

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Food vendor in Srinagar

Jacob Joseph, 57, a native of India living in North America, has had serious heart problems for four years. He has Indian friends whose heart disease started even earlier. "I have even heard this morning someone as young as 35 or 36 years old had a heart attack," he said.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirms that people from India and other South Asian countries do have heart attacks earlier. Physician Salim Yusuf of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences in Ontario, Canada is one of the researchers. "The age of 53 or 54 is the mean [average] age in South Asians for heart attack, whereas it is about 58 or 59 in other parts of the world," he said.

This disparity has raised the question of whether South Asians have a special susceptibility for heart attacks not explained by traditional risk factors, such as smoking, lack of exercise, a poor diet, and high cholesterol².

To determine the reason, Yusuf and his colleagues looked at data on more than 27,000 people from South Asia and other parts of the world. Eight years after the first volunteer was recruited, they have answers. "The reason why South Asians get heart disease at an earlier age is because they have a higher proportion of people with bad cholesterol and less good cholesterol."

Yusuf says there is probably an unexplained biological reason for this, although poor diet appears to play a role. He points out that in dishes like curries³, vegetables are often cooked so long, they lose health benefits, and that these habits follow South Asians wherever they migrate.

But higher cholesterol is not the only risk factor setting South Asians apart. The study says they also have more diabetes⁴, high blood pressure, tobacco use, depression, and stress at home.

Yusuf says migrating to North America adds to the problem. "I think South Asian immigrants who have come to North America are at even greater risk of heart disease compared to those living in their home countries and the reason for this is that they are even more urbanized," he said.

Dr. Yusuf's advice is to eat healthy foods, exercise, avoid tobacco, and get regular medical examinations. "All these are good general advice that we give anybody, but in South Asians they matter even more," he said.

1 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

2 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

3 curries   

n.咖喱食品( curry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Coconut is a basic ingredient for many curries. 椰子是多种咖喱菜的基本成分。
• Coriander is used in Indian curries, gin, American cigarettes, and sausage. 胡荽多被用在：印度咖哩粉，杜松子酒，美国香烟，香肠。 来自互联网

4 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。