Unhealthy lifestyles are threatening the hearts of the nation's children, the Taiwan Society of Cardiology warned at a press conference in Taipei yesterday.
A person dies of a heart attack every 45 minutes in Taiwan, the group said. A more disturbing fact, however, is that children and teenagers are increasingly vulnerable to suffering heart disease and strokes in their later years because of growing consumption of fast food and tobacco, a lack of exercise and exposure to second-hand smoke.
"As Taiwan rides on the wave of Westernization, teenage eating habits and lifestyles are making them potential victims of heart disorders," society president Lee Yuan-teh (
Lee cited World Heart Federation research, which reported that overweight children are three to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke before they reach the age of 65.
In Taiwan, obesity has made inroads among school-age children. A 2001 report from National Taiwan Normal University showed that 40 percent of boys and 25 percent of girls between the ages of six and six-and-a-half in Taipei City are overweight.
"In view of the amount of fast food that teenagers consume," said Taipei Deputy Mayor Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川), "they will probably need heart bypass surgery by the age of 40."
Yeh also said that former US president Bill Clinton had just had heart bypass surgery and that he was representative of the problem.
Tobacco also threatens the health of children. The World Heart Federation estimated that globally, nearly 25 percent of all students smoke, having lit their first cigarette before the age of 10. The situation is made worse because almost half of all children worldwide live in the home of a smoker and are subjected to second-hand smoke.
"Children exposed to second-hand smoke have a 25 percent-greater risk of developing both lung cancer and heart disease and an 80 percent-greater risk of suffering a stroke," Lee quoted the federation's report as saying.
Backing the federation's campaign to prevent heart attacks and strokes, the society will hold a balanced-diet competition for teenagers and fitness training sessions for the general public at the 228 Peace Park Memorial Hall tomorrow morning, the fifth annual World Heart Day.
"Increasing the amount of physical activity is an immediate priority as children are lax about their health," society secretary-general Hsu Tsui-lieh (
"Our goal is to increase awareness of the threat of heart disease and stroke and the importance of a heart-friendly lifestyle," Hsu said. "That way children and adolescents can live better lives and live longer."
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS