Amsterdam, the Netherlands – On the occasion of World Heart Day tomorrow, Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology and proud partner of the World Heart Federation (WHF), is calling for people to make a personal promise to keep their heart, and all other hearts healthy. Philips and the WHF share a joint ambition to encourage everyone to improve their own cardiovascular health, and help improve the cardiovascular health of others.

Philips’ ‘heart promise’ encourages a small lifestyle change that can make a powerful difference to people’s heart health, such as eating a healthy, balanced diet, doing 30 minutes of activity a day or giving up smoking, all of which can help to reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). To make their promise to support heart health, consumers can visit http://www.worldheart.org and make a public pledge using #WorldHeartDay and tagging www.facebook.com/worldheartfederation.

“It’s well understood that a healthy, nutritious balanced diet that majors on homemade foods, with less fat, is key to maintaining a healthy heart,” said Roy Jakobs, Chief Business Leader of the Personal Health businesses at Royal Philips. “However, what is probably less well known among consumers is that clean air is also essential to heart health, which is why we’re fully behind WHF’s efforts on World Heart Day 2018 to create wider awareness of this increasingly important CVD risk factor. In addition, we want to raise awareness of the role each of us can play in providing emergency care when a person suffers a sudden cardiac arrest, which can happen to anyone.”

A nutritious diet
One of the keys to a healthy heart is a nutritious diet. However, two in every three adults struggle to eat three or four portions of fruit and vegetables per day [1]. Latest statistics show that 39% of adults aged 18 years and over are categorized as overweight and 13% as obese [2]. This can significantly increase their risk of CVD. Recognizing that fruit and vegetables are an integral part of a balanced diet, Philips has a wide range of kitchen appliances, including slow juicers, blenders and centrifugal juicers that make it easy to prepare nourishing and tasty meals at home. Moreover, cooking with Philips’ Airfryer XXL helps people keep their personal heart promise, look after their heart health while still enjoying great-tasting fried food. Philips Airfryers use hot air to quickly and easily cook delicious healthy food, with little to no oil. The latest Philips Airfryer XXL comes with fat removal technology that extracts fat from food and captures it.

Clean air
In addition to poor nutrition, poor air quality - outdoor and indoor air pollution - is a contributing factor to CVD. One in five premature deaths from CVD is attributable to air pollution, amounting to a total of three million deaths globally every year [3]. To address this situation, Philips has an extensive Air portfolio that includes a range of solutions to ensure people can always breathe clean air. Philips’ Air Purifier solutions paired with the company’s Air Matters app ensure they always know about indoor and outdoor air quality, and gives them peace of mind about the quality of the air they and their family are breathing.

Prompt action to save lives
Next to the emphasis on CVD prevention, Philips is using World Heart Day to create awareness of the role consumers can play in improving outcomes for people who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). SCA can happen to anyone at any time, so awareness and preparedness are key. Immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and early defibrillation, using an automated external defibrillator (AED), can more than double a victim’s chance of survival [4]. In fact, early defibrillation, along with CPR, is the only way to restore a victim’s heart rhythm to normal in many cases [4]. For every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation, the chance of survival decreases by 7-10% [5]. An AED can help bystanders provide defibrillation quickly.

Seamless Cardiovascular Care
In addition to its commitment to providing consumers with solutions for healthy heart lifestyles, Philips has deep professional expertise in better managing cardiovascular disease to streamline patient care. From definitive diagnoses to minimally invasive interventions to health information management, Philips’ cardiovascular solutions are designed to help improve clinical outcomes, while optimizing hospital stays of cardiovascular patients. From the minute a cardiovascular patient enters the hospital, Philips’ aim is to help deliver the right care in the right amount of time by seamlessly connecting data, technology and people.

[1] World Health Organization, 2015. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/trs916/en/
[2] World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/
[3] GBD 2016 Risk Factors Collaborators. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet 390, 1345–1422 (2017). http://www.healthdata.org/results/data-visualizations
[4] Weisfeldt ML, et al. Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias after Cardiac Arrest in Public versus at Home. New England Journal of Medicine, 2011; 364:313-321.
[5] CPR Facts and Stats, American Heart Association, September 16, 2016