A Thai friend asked me, "Why do so many farangs get heart disease?"

 

Good question. Why do Westerners (North Americans, Europeans, Australians) get heart disease more often than Thais? (Assuming this is true, but it really seems like it.)

 

Rough estimate of Thai women married to older Western men - about 1/3 have husbands who have, or have had, some kind of heart, cardiovascular, or blood pressure type ailment.

 

Thais eat a lot of fatty pork (moo sam chan, pork leg, other kinds of pork) and deep fried foods too, which are arguably just as nasty as bacon and fatty sausages.

 

Leading causes of death for Thais seem to be traffic accidents, liver disease from alcoholism or hepatitis, and the like.

 

from world atlas: heart problems number 2, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/leading-causes-of-death-in-thailand.html

 

keep away from street food muck!

 

schemic Heart Disease And Stroke

Cancer (19%) is the leading cause of death in Thailand, followed by Ischemic (12%) heart disease and stroke (10%). Ischemic heart disease and stroke are related illnesses that result from arterial blockages curtailing blood supply to the brain. Obesity, smoking, and atherosclerosis are often seen as the culprit in heart diseases. The problem of foreign fastfood chains entering the Thai market has also increased obesity among the population. The use of palm and coconut oil in cooking street food is another concern which many patronize in Thailand.

Fatty junk western diet

Heart disease is not as rare as you seem to think.  It has always been among the top 3 causes of death here.  Depending on the year and the study (and whether it was limited to natural causes, or all causes), in 2nd or 3rd place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer is pretty simple - obesity. 20 kg overweight means 20 kg more the heart has to work for.

 

Undoubtedly Thais are catching up, with the proliferation of fast foods. We all know who they are. A village diet is actually quite healthy, small quantities.

When I visited America for the first time in 1983, I was astounded by the number of obese people I saw. Then I understood, after seeing what any restaurant put on their plates.

 

I still remember a restaurant called Claimjumpers, in California. They had a cake the size of a 5 gallon drum. If one could eat it all at one sitting, it was free. According to the waitress, a lot of customers made the attempt.

"(Assuming this is true, but it really seems like it.) ... Rough estimate of"

 

So the OP posted before any research ... hmm

 

Motive ???

1 minute ago, KhunLA said:

So the OP posted before any research ... hmm

 

Motive ???

I already did some research online.

 

https://letmegooglethat.com/

 

Heart and cardiovascular disease prevalence in the US and Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe, are indeed higher than in Thailand.

 

Causes are debatable.

 

Back in the UK there was a restaurant called The Hungry Horse the portions were huge. I took my thai girlfriend at the time there and she was not impressed . She said why do you want to eat 1kg of fries with half a cow

1 minute ago, kwak250 said:

Back in the UK there was a restaurant called The Hungry Horse the portions were huge. I took my thai girlfriend at the time there and she was not impressed . She said why do you want to eat 1kg of fries with half a cow

they go to the thai BBQs for the same reason

1 minute ago, kwak250 said:

Back in the UK there was a restaurant called The Hungry Horse the portions were huge. I took my thai girlfriend at the time there and she was not impressed . She said why do you want to eat 1kg of fries with half a cow

Throw in som tam, turn the cow into larb, add chili and fish sauce, supplement the meal with sticky rice, and she will be impressed!

Probably also got something to do with the medical profession and how people use it as well.  A bit like Covid for example,  If there is more testing there is more covid  and vice versa.  Likewise with heart disease , and when you take into account that most people here could not afford the expensive treatments / medicines  there is not much incentive for the drug companies and hospitals to get involved. Whereas in the USA and Europe ........

Life style, diet, activity, stress and worries all the above makes a big different...

Diet. 
 

Lifestyle choices. 

3 minutes ago, RamenRaven said:

Throw in som tam, turn the cow into larb, add chili and fish sauce, supplement the meal with sticky rice, and she will be impressed!

Haha yes that was where i went wrong !

 

The last time we visited California I took my wife to my favorite taqueria and ordered one super burrito.  She was puzzled as to why I had ordered only one, but when it arrived she understood!

30 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

She said why do you want to eat 1kg of fries with half a cow

Lack of critical thinking.  "Why do you want to eat so much of this thing I don't like?  I just don't understand it!"  "Of course I eat lots of [weird Thai food], it's delicious!  You think too much!"  (Not reserved for Thais.)