“Thirty percent of adult Mexicans are hypertensive – that is to say, some 20 million people, of whom some 7 million don’t know or take care of themselves,” said cardiologist Eugenio Ruesga while he presented his book “Cardiopatia.” In his book he compiled articles on heart disease from 200 Latin American physicians.
In Mexico, Ruesga says, about 70 percent of the of the population is overweight, and 30 percent of the adults are obese.
“The main thing that increases obesity and cholesterol is the diet of Mexicans, the – in Mexico – so-called ‘Vitamin T,’ which consists of tacos, tortas, tamales, (all) products with a high carbohydrate content,” he said.
Obesity is one of the causes of high cholesterol, which effects 18 percent of Mexican adults. Some are also part of the eight percent of Mexican adults who smoke, adding to their cardiovascular problems.
According to Ruesga, the main diseases of the heart involve the obstruction of coronary arteries that supply the heart with blood.
“When the diameter of a coronary artery reduces the blood flow, then we feel a sharp pain that people call ‘angina,’ a pain that is a message to the heart to open the conduits,” he said.
The second most common cause of death due to heart problems in cardiac insufficiency, which means the heart cannot pump the volume of blood required “to satisfy the demands of cellular metabolism.”
Ruesga said his book, is primarily a manual for physicians and medical students, but comprehensible information is available for anyone.
