Obesity epidemic driving heart disease

The burgeoning obesity epidemic among the Irish is storing up serious heart health problems for the future, according to a leading cardiologist.

Consultant cardiologist at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH), Dr Carl Vaughan, said the fact that six out of 10 Irish adults and one in four children are either overweight or obese is leading to a huge burden of heart disease risk.

Dr Vaughan has said this epidemic of high blood pressure and obesity is putting strain on cardiology departments and needs to be addressed now.

He said that what medics were seeing now was “only the tip of the iceberg” as the real problem lay with the younger generation.

“There is an epidemic of childhood obesity, teenage obesity and adult obesity that’s driving diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, and heart disease.

“The message needs to get out there that heart disease is on the rise and the problem is going to get worse.”

He said it now looked like cardiovascular disease will remain the single biggest killer in Ireland: “Since the 1980s deaths from heart disease and strokes have been falling thanks to improved treatments. But the latest rise in obesity could see this trend reverse.”

Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.