Know Your Heart

Know Your Heart challenges the notion that health is solely an individual’s responsibility. Health reports and investigations as well as the author’s own research reveal shocking details. Lifestyle diseases are approaching epidemic proportions – an estimated thirty million Indians suffer from coronary heart disease and three million die of it every year. Heart disease manifests almost ten years earlier in Indians as compared to the rest of the world. Unhealthy diets, a physically inactive population, rising tobacco consumption: what lies behind this downturn in our health as a nation? What is at the root of it all?Dinesh C. Sharma ferrets out the hidden links between state policy, corporate greed and the health of our hearts. Narrow political interests, faulty strategies and the state-industry nexus are all squarely to blame. Take, for instance, the fact that even as the government churns out anti-tobacco advisories, it offers blanket incentives for tobacco agriculture – a major revenue earner. Just as shocking is the state’s promotion of processed food. While health experts are recommending freshly cooked food and diversity in food to prevent a plethora of lifestyle diseases, the government is providing loans and tax concessions to set up food processors. Know Your Heart breaks the silence around this hypocrisy. This is an expose that an increasingly young nation cannot afford to ignore.