Awareness and prevention actions in France
This year, the French Federation of Cardiology (FFC) has decided to highlight information and prevention messages during Heart Week to be held from September 23 to October 1, 2017 throughout France, with a highlight September 29 for World Heart Day.
Among the major themes of these meetings are poor eating habits and the harmful effects of obesity, tobacco consumption and a sedentary lifestyle.
Obesity and overweight, how to identify?
Poor eating habits often lead to overweight or even obesity. They result from excessive caloric intake compared to insufficient energy expenditure. It is necessary to be vigilant because harmful effects on health can be felt, in particular on the cardiovascular system.
Some tools such as BMI (Body Mass Index) and corpulence curves are available to monitor an individual's corpulence. In children, BMI reference values vary physiologically with age. Thus, it is not possible to refer, as in adults, to a single BMI reference value. The French corpulence curves, present in the health records, therefore supplement the BMI. Some websites combine data, such as the site www.imc.fr.
Smoking, an aggravating factor
In 2004, a major international study (Interheart, conducted in 52 countries around the world, confirmed that smoking is universally a risk factor, very close behind excess cholesterol. adolescence that the vast majority of long-term smokers begin to smoke, with an age of the first cigarette situated on average between 11 and 12 years, at the time of entering secondary school 1 .
Physical inactivity, a worrying growing phenomenon
The use of “passive” modes of transport such as the car, the bus, the metro… as well as the extension of the tertiary sector which places individuals in offices in a static position, increase our rate of sedentary lifestyle. The French Federation of Cardiology specifies that the uninterrupted maintenance of the prolonged sitting position and the lack of physical activity "are a factor in the development of cardiovascular risk".
