Speaking at the plenary session on `New Biosciences: Opportunities and Challenges' as we move into the next millennium, he said a yogic lifestyle included a high-fibre vegetarian diet, strict control of risk factors like tobacco use, physical exercise, stress management, asanas (postures), meditation and spirituality.

A lifestyle heart trial had been conducted in 1990 in the West, wherein the patients were treated with a low fat reversal diet. However, the diet was not practical and the trial had several limitations. Following this, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and a Yoga centre in Delhi launched the yoga lifestyle trial on 42 persons. Twenty one were on the Yoga Life Style (YLS), and the rest were on other controls.

After one year of YLS, there was seven per centreduction in weight, 20 per cent reduction in cholesterol and 73 per cent reduction of angina. The control method, however, was not as effective. The YLS was user-friendly, had a high degree of compliance and a favourable effect on weight, retarded progression of lesions and increased regression of lesions, he said.

Coronary heart disease was the leading cause of death worldwide, and was an emerging epidemic in developing countries. South Asians, especially, were prone to CHD. In India, CHD was now the third leading cause of death, and by 2020 AD, would be the leading cause, he said. In this situation, YLS provided a cost-effective and affordable way out.