Speakers of a seminar, on Thursday cautioned that cardiovascular diseases are likely to become number one single cause of the human deaths than from any other cause. The seminar was organized by National Institute of Food Science & Technology in connection with World Heart Day.

Speakers of a seminar, on Thursday cautioned that cardiovascular diseases are likely to become number one single cause of the human deaths than from any other cause. The seminar was organized by National Institute of Food Science & Technology in connection with World Heart Day. Dean Faculty of Agriculture Prof. Dr. Ajmad Aulakh was chief guest of the event while Assistant Professor Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology Dr. Rehan Dhabb was keynote speaker of the seminar. Dean Faculty of Food, Nutrition and Home Sciences Prof. Dr. Masood Sadiq Butt and DG NIFSAT Prof. Dr. Tahir Zahor were among the speakers. Addressing the inaugural session of the seminar, Dr. Rehan Dhabb said that heart diseases can be prevented by taking healthy diet, promoting exercise and avoiding junk food and use of drugs. He told that he is spending his life in such a family, where nine doctors are living under one roof. He said that most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing behavioral risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and obesity, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol using population. He said that about 17.7 million people died from CVDs in 2015, representing 31% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, an estimated 7.4 million were due to coronary heart disease and 6.7 million were due to stroke. He said that people with cardiovascular disease or who are at high cardiovascular risk due to the presence of one or more risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia or already established disease, need early detection and management using counselling and medicines, as appropriate. Dean Faculty of Agriculture Prof. Dr. Muhammad Amjad as chief guest said that as the awareness regarding heart diseases is rising among the masses, the burden of heart disease is also on the rise due to various factors. He said that there were 12 Pakistanis die every hour due to heart attack while more than one third (34 per cent) of all deaths in Pakistan are caused by cardiovascular diseases, making it the leading non-communicable disease in the country. He urged the participants to adopt healthy lifestyle and avoid junk food, obesity and use of drugs. Dean Faculty of Food, Nutrition and Home Science Prof. Dr. Masood Sadiq Butt said that UAF, while keeping in view the rising disease burden, had initiated BSc Human Nutrition and Dietitian degree program to aware the youth prevent the disease rather than making efforts for curing. He vowed to ink a memorandum of understanding with FIC to dispatch internees for enhancing their professional capabilities. DG NIFSAT Prof. Dr. Tahir Zahoor thanked the organizers and participants. Dr. Benish Israr and Miss Hira Iftikhar also spoke on the occasion.