Why your heart health matters ❤️
American Heart Month is a reminder about South Asian Americans’ disproportionately higher risks for cardiovascular ailments.
Issue #54
Hi all —
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:
Health class may influence heart risk in South Asians (American Heart Association)
Lifestyle recommendations from the South Asian Heart Center (El Camino Hospital)
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.”
Also, some other topics of interest to check out this week:
Seattle becomes first U.S. city to outlaw caste discrimination after council vote (Reuters)
Following up after last week’s issue about Nikki Haley running for president... Now, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is also running for the Republican ticket, competing with Haley and Trump. He announced it during an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. A recent New Yorker profile is a fascinating read on Ramaswamy, revealing a lot of interesting details: He’s a Harvard- and Yale-educated, Brahmin Indian American who benefited from access to those privileged communities, but he is against affirmative action and claims the current narrative of systemic racism creates more racism. “A strain of animus toward Black Americans runs through much of Ramaswamy’s public commentary,” The New Yorker article states. The New Yorker also describes how Ramaswamy built his wealth (partly “from a failed effort to bring an Alzheimer’s drug to market”) and how as a Harvard student he was against raising wages for campus janitors. He’s also an outspoken critic of corporate measures that address climate change and racial justice. Whether his privileged background and contrarian approach connects with everyday Republicans and South Asian Americans remains to be seen. As the 2024 landscape continues to be shaped, The Atlantic has a helpful guide to keep track of aspiring and possible presidential candidates.
Thanks for joining the conversation,
Vignesh Ramachandran (@VigneshR on Twitter)
Co-founder of Red, White and Brown Media
Your Thoughts
Please send a WhatsApp message to 646–481–3221 or email us to share your feedback, story ideas or anything else you’re thinking about these days:
Red, White and Brown Media facilitates substantive conversations through the lens of South Asian American race and identity — via journalism, social media and events. Please tell your friends and family to subscribe to this newsletter.