Aneela H Shiwani, Abdul Aziz, Hanif Shiwani.
Shall we become vegetarian to minimize the risk of Coronary Heart Disease?.
J Pak Med Assoc Jan ;57(1):46-8.

Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality all over the world, being responsible for about 50% of all adult deaths. The majority of these deaths are from coronary heart disease (CHD). In India, prevalence of coronary artery disease has been reported as being 11% in 2001, However, sizeable populations such as in Pakistan have no published data for prevalence or incidence of coronary artery disease. In Pakistan, prevalence is high for diseases like hypertension (17.9%), diabetes (10%) and hyper-cholesterolemia (3.7%) which are precursors of chronic diseases. The risk of coronary heart disease in south Asians also seems to be genetically determined is shown by the strong association of CHD with lipoprotein A, which has the highest heritability index of all the lipoproteins. Genes may also have a role through insulin resistance, The effect of genes on risk of CHD becomes fully apparent when people migrate from south Asia to more affluent environments and acquire western behaviours; their insulin resistance increases, along with the risk of CHD associated with lipoprotein A and LDL cholesterol. This is a review article.

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