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Health Minister joins South Heart Walk
‘Too many people getting fat’
Published:
Monday, July 2, 2012
Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan participates in the Zumba fitness session. Photos: Rishi Ragoonath
Wearing sneakers and track pants, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan joined scores of participants in the annual South Heart Walk to promote healthy lifestyles at Palmiste Park, San Fernando, on June 16. The Minister, who even participated in the zumba session, has been championing the drive against obesity among citizens, particularly in children. Indicating that men, women and children were getting fat, Khan told participants that in the last 20 years the obesity in T&T had risen by between 35 to 55 per cent. He said that increase correlated with the development of the fast food industry. “We need everyone of you to carry the message forward of healthy lifestyles, decrease in salt, decrease in sugar, decrease in oils and decrease in carbohydrates and fats. “We have to start substituting our children’s meals, especially in schools, with healthy foods: low oil content; low sugar content, or zero sugar content. “I am starting to target those fizzy drinks with a lot of sugar in it.”
He said a study in the paediatric ward of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex revealed that the cholesterol levels of obese children between the ages of five and seven warded there were higher than the levels in adults: “And for the first time we are seeing adult onset diabetes which is Type Two diabetes in these children so it correlates with diet.” He said the country has a higher incidence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac diseases, strokes, kidney diseases and certain cancers “Right now there are not enough beds in Eric Williams, or San Fernando, or Port-of-Spain (General Hospitals), or Sangre Grande hospital because everyone is coming in for heart problems, heart attacks, kidney diseases, need for dialysis, high blood pressure and strokes or some form of complications of the chronic non-communicable diseases.” He said that was the result of poor eating habits, unhealthy lifestyles, lack of vegetables in diet and exercise. Farouk Khan Hosein, chairman of the South Heart Walk, said last year Heart Beat International of T&T and the T&T Heart Foundation performed 133 pacemakers and defibrillators implantations and 41 implants in November and December.
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