Cholesterol and Heart Diseases – Exposed

June 3, 2010 · Posted in cholesterol · Comment 

You must have heard of the term blood lipids? Which is a medical name given to all the fatty substance in the blood, including cholesterol? Cholesterol is a soft, fat-like, waxy substance found in the bloodstream and in all body cells. It is produced by the body, and is important for the body to function properly. In fact, the body makes about 80 per cent, the rest 20 per cent comes from dietary sources. Without cholesterol, our bodies would be unable to function properly. About half of American adults have high level of cholesterol and about 1 in 5 has a high-risk zone level.

Cholesterol is particularly important in the formation of brain cells, nerve tissue, and the spinal cord. It helps to produce bile that metabolizes fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K. But too much cholesterol in the blood is a major risk for coronary heart disease and stroke.

As we all know, fat deposits in the arterial wall is the major cause of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). The deposits of fats in the arteries make the wall narrower and so reduce blood flow to the heart muscles (myocardium). The arteries can become clogged and narrow, and blood flow reduced. If this plaque ruptures, a blood clot may form here or a piece may break off and travel in the bloodstream. If a blood clot blocks the blood flow to your heart, it causes a heart attack. If a blood clot blocks an artery leading to the brain, a stroke results. This whole process is more likely to happen to a person with a high level of bad blood cholesterol in the blood.

But Cholesterol is difficult to measure because the level in the blood includes several different types, and put simply, there are good and bad cholesterol in our body. There is enough evidence to show that the risk of Coronary heart disease rises as total cholesterol level increases.

First get to know the different types of cholesterol to determine which one is actually a threat to our health. Blood cholesterol is referred to as total cholesterol (TC) and there are two types:

High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) often called the good cholesterol helps to protect against heart diseases. This type of cholesterol transfers the fatty deposits away from the arteries and they are usually low in hyperinsulinism which is dangerous to the heart.

Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) is a bad form of cholesterol which deposits blood fats in the arteries and therefore is associated with increased risk of heart attack. Triglycerides are another common type of fat in the body. They’re a good energy source that our body also makes mostly. High levels of blood triglycerides are often found in people who are overweight, have high cholesterol levels, heart problems, and diabetes.

So, we no know that a measure of cholesterol by itself does not count since if the cholesterol level is high, it may be due to high HDL-C (good one) or high LDL-C (bad one). So a breakdown of the type of cholesterol has to be measured.

There is enough evidence to show that the risk of heart disease rises as total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-C levels increases. And because HDL-C is the good cholesterol, it is expected that high level of it will help lower the risk of coronary heart disease. So high level of HDL-C appears to neutralize the potential adverse effect of raised total cholesterol level in our blood.

Blood cholesterol level are measured by blood test and the ideal total is less than 5.0mmol/L. for instance, in the Framingham Heart study, people with a total cholesterol level of about 6.5mmol/L had a heart attack risk two or three times higher than people with level less than 5mmol/L.

Your genetic makeup is partly responsible for determining your blood cholesterol level. Some families carry genes for raised level of various kinds of blood fats. But in all, diet plays the most important role in determining cholesterol levels in the body.

Animal and dairy fats like beef, pork, eggs, cheese, some vegetable oil raises blood cholesterol, do the first step of preventing heart diseases significantly in both men and women is to reduce the amount of saturated or animal fats contents in meals. But rather, replace animal and dairy fats with vegetable fats which are low-saturated and may lower
blood cholesterol. Eat more of fruits, wholegrain meal, and fresh vegetables. Do physical activities at least 30 minutes on most or all days of the week.

Many people who have angina or a heart attack have high lipid level which are partly as a result of diet and partly genetic. By good and careful dieting plan, you can reduce blood cholesterol levels by 10-20 per cent. For greater lowering of cholesterol, drugs are usually necessary. Drugs like Statins, Resins and Fibrates are very useful. See your doctor for effective treatment plan.

To learn more about cholesterol and heart diseases visit http://www.heartcares.blogspot.com

Knowledge is power, so Learn and Live!

Miracle is an expert researcher on health and fitness matters especially heart health, women and men’s health, dieting, environmental health issues, a motivational speaker and a teacher. For more information, visit http://www.heartcares.blogspot.com http://www.dietcares.blogspot.com

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How Does Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease? What Can Be Done to Help Yourself Avoid It

May 28, 2010 · Posted in cholesterol · Comment 

Many of those who have suffered from heart attacks, probably realize the importance of eating healthy in order to avoid repeating this very scary experience. What happens to your heart prior to the heart attack? Eating an unhealthy diet has the tendency to increase the LDL level in your blood and elevated LDL cholesterol is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. LDL deposits on the artery walls, causing the formation of a hard, thick substance called cholesterol plaque.

Through years of keeping the same eating habits (including fast food dining, junk food etc.), the cholesterol plaque will cause thickening of the artery walls and narrowing of the arteries, a process called arteriosclerosis. Scary word, isn’t? The arteries that zigzag in the walls of your heart and supply blood and oxygen to the heart muscles are called coronary arteries. When coronary arteries are narrowed, they are incapable of supplying enough blood and oxygen to the heart muscle during exertion. Lack of oxygen to the heart muscle causes chest pain. The formation of a blood clot in the artery can cause a complete blockage of the artery and lead to the death of the heart muscle (heart attack). Arteriosclerotic disease of coronary arteries (coronary heart disease) is the most common cause of death in the United States, accounting for about 600,000 deaths annually. What a morbid statistic! Are you sometimes wondering if you are next in line? Well, a health club facility isn’t as far fetched as you think, so I guess you know what to do and get your butt, or legs, on the treadmill.

We all know now what LDL does to your body. Well, if there is a “bad”, then a “good” can’t be too far away. When I say “good”, I’m talking about HDL. High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) is called the “good cholesterol” because HDL cholesterol particles prevent arteriosclerosis by extracting cholesterol from the artery walls and disposing of them through the liver. It also interferes with the accumulation of cholesterol in the artery walls through the LDL cholesterol particles.
The risk of arteriosclerosis and heart attacks in both men and women is strongly related to HDL cholesterol levels. Low levels of HDL cholesterol are linked to a higher risk, whereas high HDL cholesterol levels are associated with a lower risk.

Very low and very high HDL cholesterol levels can run in families. Families with low HDL cholesterol levels have a higher incidence of heart attacks than the general population, while families with high HDL cholesterol levels tend to live longer with a lower frequency of heart attacks.
Like LDL cholesterol, life style factors and other conditions influence HDL cholesterol levels. HDL cholesterol levels are lower in persons who smoke cigarettes, eat a lot of sweets, are overweight and inactive, and in patients with type II diabetes. HDL cholesterol is higher in people who are lean, exercise regularly, and do not smoke cigarettes. Estrogen increases a person’s HDL cholesterol, which explains why pre-menopausal women generally have higher HDL levels than men do.
For individuals with low HDL cholesterol levels, a high total or LDL cholesterol blood level further increases the incidence of heart attacks.

Therefore, the combination of high levels of LDL cholesterol with low levels of HDL cholesterol is undesirable whereas the combination of low levels of LDL cholesterol and high levels of HDL cholesterol is favorable. Remember to always check your cholesterol blood test for the ratio of LDL to HDL. The total cholesterol is not a good indicator of your health. You will need to obtain the split between the HDL and LDL. Thus, the total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio (total/HDL) is a number that is helpful in predicting arteriosclerosis. The number is obtained by dividing total cholesterol by HDL cholesterol. (High ratios indicate higher risks of heart attacks, low ratios indicate lower risk). An average ratio would be about 4.5. Ideally, we want to be better than average. Thus, the best ratio would be 2 or 3 or less than 4.

All of this is getting pretty complicated, although I have tried my best to make it as user-friendly as possible. We all have many questions to ask our doctors, nutrition specialists, or even our dieticians. Moreover, you should pay attention to the following: Are they being clear in their explanations? This depends again on the specialist. You will need to get outside information to complement what is said between you and the medical professional. To a certain extent, books can be very helpful as well, they will allow you to know what questions to ask your doctor. For those who suffer a mild to dangerous heart attack, the first step after leaving the hospital is to get more information about the subject. Fear and ignorance can make you avoid reality. However, all the medical books available can still be difficult to comprehend when authors use medical terminology that only doctors can understand. Are there hidden secrets that they (the doctors) don’t want to share with us? They write books as if we are supposed to understand all their concepts, terminologies, and theories. Depending on how the author approaches the subject at hand, you will need to use a medical dictionary to understand the wording used in the book. It greatly confuses the reader who doesn’t know where else to turn. Although I haven’t had any heart attacks, I was curious and wanted to understand how the body works and how I can avoid such a terrible experience. A proactive approach will increase my chances of going through life without experiencing any of these ordeals. The power of information will enable me to go on and be more assertive when it comes to my health.

I am now sharing my knowledge with you and hopefully can help you understand how we can reduce the risk of becoming statistics by year’s end. Healthy eating and exercising are primary factors that will, in many cases, assure great health and reduce the LDL levels in your blood.
I’ve already mentioned some of the other factors that determine the LDL level in your blood. Some people are genetically predisposed to high LDL levels in the blood and do not voluntarily contribute (by eating at fast food restaurants) to elevated LDL levels. Others are aware of what they eat (fast food and sweets) but still go through life wondering what they did to deserve having a heart attack. Both heredity and diet have a significant influence on a patient’s LDL, HDL, and total cholesterol levels. For example, familial hyper-cholesterolemia (FH) is a common inherited disorder whose victims have a diminished number or no LDL receptors on the surface of their liver cells. The resulting decreased activity of the LDL receptors limits the liver’s ability to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood. Thus, affected family members have abnormally high LDL cholesterol levels in their blood. They also tend to develop arteriosclerosis and heart attacks during early adulthood. In order to lower LDL cholesterol, the activity level of the LDL receptors must be increased. LDL receptor activity can be increased through diets that are low in cholesterol and saturated fats and through prescription drugs.

Lowering LDL cholesterol involves losing excess weight, exercising regularly, and following a diet that is low in saturated fat. Drugs are prescribed when diet and exercise cannot reduce the LDL cholesterol to acceptable levels. Some of my acquaintances have used medication to resolve that problem. When all your options are exhausted, the use of prescription drugs can be the only alternative.

Author: Daniel A Amzallag
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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