Expert sensitises Nigerians on heart health

Worried by the increase in death rates caused by heart failure, a wellness consultant and professor at Delta State University, John Ekperigin, has stressed the need for Nigerians to take the health of their heart seriously.

With the theme: “Save a heart campaign, things to know about the heart,” he noted that the World Health Organization, (WHO) says the prevailing ailment today are diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, obesity and cardio-vascular disease.

According to him: “Out of these top five that take human lives in the world, cardiovascular disease is the highest, we also observe that people just die without falling sick and it has to do with the heart. The heart is in trouble; we need to save the heart.

“Among all the organs in the body, the heart is the core because, if the heart fails, the life is gone. The heart distributes life to all the cells. An average person has about 93 trillion cells. And the heart needs to give all these cells food. The muscle of the heart is different from the muscle of other body. The muscle is designed to keep working.

The heart must pump about 8, 000 litres of blood round the body. The heart requires lots of energy to do the work and it begins with awareness campaign. Many people think they are normal but they are not.”

Speaking further, Ekperigin said: “Unfortunately, the energy required for the heart to do the work is not sufficient, making some cells to suffer and degeneration takes place. Magnesium that should also keep the heart working is lacking in most food.

He, however, advocated the use of Forever Living products, which has cardio health pack. The products, he said, make the heart healthy.