Changes in diet and lifestyle have led to a sharp increase in deaths linked to high levels of cholesterol in Asia, according to a study published on Wednesday.
Cholesterol-linked deaths from heart disease and stroke have been seen as a problem for high-income Western countries but the balance has shifted to Asia over the past four decades, according to an article in the journal Nature.
The study showed a small reduction of average cholesterol in the Middle East and North Africa, where levels are already lower than the global average.
The study examined data from more than 100 million people worldwide from 1980 to 2018, which suggested that changes in diet, behaviour and medication were behind the changes.
In 2017, so-called ‘bad cholesterol’ was linked to 3.9 million deaths worldwide with half of those in East, South-East and South Asia, it said. In 1990, Asian deaths were only responsible for one quarter of deaths.
The research found that China had some of the lowest levels of cholesterol in 1980 but was among the highest in 2018, while Belgium and Iceland saw some of largest declines.
Major cuts in European countries attributed to dietary changes and the increased use of cholesterol-controlling statins.
Cholesterol can be affected by a number of different factors so it was difficult to say specifically why levels had not changed in the Middle East, said one of the authors, Professor Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London.
He said it was likely that cholesterol levels in the Middle East had not shifted because the balance between animal and plant-based food had not much changed compared with Europe and Asia. He said improvements in healthcare may also have been significant.
China’s rising prosperity and changes in eating habits have been blamed for rising obesity and lifestyle-related conditions, such as diabetes. The authors of the report recommended changes to the Asian diet that replaced saturated fats with unsaturated ones and improvements in treatment.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The biog
Occupation: Key marker and auto electrician
Hometown: Ghazala, Syria
Date of arrival in Abu Dhabi: May 15, 1978
Family: 11 siblings, a wife, three sons and one daughter
Favourite place in UAE: Abu Dhabi
Favourite hobby: I like to do a mix of things, like listening to poetry for example.
Favourite Syrian artist: Sabah Fakhri, a tenor from Aleppo
Favourite food: fresh fish
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
