new delhi that indians are highlysusceptible to heart attacks is wellknown but a new study has found that migration to other countries also increases their risk of coronary heart disease chda twoyear survey conducted among 537 gujaratis living in sandwell near manchester and those in their villages of origin in navsari gujarat found that the former was more at risk as regards chd thanks to lifestyle changes and eating patterns the survey was done by aiims and the university of manchester and funded by british heart foundationsurveying gujaratis was preferred as their ancestry could easily be traced as compared to other ethnic groups lifestyle indices food intake and physical activity were assessed along with detailed questionnaires we found that gujaratis in uk had higher body mass greater dietary energy and fat intake higher bp fasting serum cholesterol and triglycerides as compared to indian gujaratis their levels of inflammation was also higher this means a greater chance of injury to tissues including blood vessels says dr srinath reddy chief cardiology aiims and one of the doctors who conducted this study we found that migration leads to greater fat intake leading to obesity and more risk factorsin fact indians in the uk whose families originate in the indian subcontinent have an approx 40 higher chd mortality as compared to british populations of european descent dietary change is one of the main causes for this with increased urbanisation people have less time to prepare healthy meals and their rates of heart disease increase more cheese and processed food less fibre less control over oil and salt intake and greater use of hydrogenated fats as found in baked items are risk factors says reddy no wonder urban delhi has a twofold higher rate of chd and a fourfold increase in diabetes over rural haryana prevalence rates of chd among urban indians are pegged at 810 and among rural people at 34 he says another reason for increased chd among migrant populations in uk is greater use of laboursaving devices this leads to overall decrease in physical activity chd has been found to be the leading cause of mortality among migrant people of indian origin also in south africa trinidad singapore fiji mauritius california and canada reddy says a survey done a decade back on punjabis in ludhiana and those in manchester found that the latter had higher lipids which again is a risk factor in chda similar study on japanese who went to san francisco and then honolulu too found similar results greater incidence of heart attacks he sayssurprisingly the present study found that smoking was higher among gujaratis in india the higher education status of those in the uk probably led to more awareness about the illeffects of smoking says dr d prabhakaran associate professor cardiology aiims and one of the partners of the study but take heart reddy suggests that if people follow a prudent diet with higher intake of vegetables fruit legumes whole grains fish and poultry as opposed to