Vegetarian Indians more likely to suffer heart disease--study | TheMedGuru:
"On the occasion of World Heart Day (September 26) there’s a bad news for vegetarians Indians. As per a new research report presented by a Pune-based bariatric Dr. Shashank Shah, vegetarian Indians are more prone to suffer from heart ailments.
Commenting on why veggie Indians are more at risk of heart diseases, Dr. Shah said in a press statement, “We found that Indians are grossly deficient in vitamin B12, which is a crucial cardio-protective factor in the body.
Vitamin B12 is usually found in food that comes from animals, like fish, meat, poultry, milk and milk products. However, since a lot of Indians are vegetarians, they do not get adequate amounts of vitamin B12 in their diet.”"
Details of research study
To come to this startling conclusion Dr Shah along with his colleague Dr Todkar, studied the data collected from about 300 patients from Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, over the period of one year.
They were startled to find out that 70 percent of these patients had suffered from a cardiac [pertaining to the heart.] disease or are at greater risk of cardiac attack in near future.
Nearly all of them were found to be suffering from vitamin B12 deficiency.
“When vitamin B12 levels fall, homocysteine levels increase. The latter is known to cause atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of the arteries), as well as an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and blood clot formation,” noted Dr Shah in his study report.