Cholesterol and Its Role in Heart Disease

People love eating. We eat to survive. We eat to enjoy and have fun with family, friends and acquaintances. We eat enough. However, most of the time, we eat too much. Also, we forget to consider that eating healthy is necessary in order to live longer and avoid the diseases that we may experience later in life. We abuse our body and later on, we learn that it’s already too late as we already suffer the ill-effects of unhealthy eating, drinking and lifestyle.

In the foods we eat, there are some components that we have to avoid like high cholesterol levels, sweet, fatty, and salty foods. Some people are disciplined enough to practice a healthy lifestyle but most of us abuse our body without considering that it is still us who will suffer later on.

Cholesterol is a part of our system. It is a normal, natural and essential constituent of many body tissues and fluids. It is everywhere … from the food we eat, as a component of the blood and even the liver makes it. Excess amounts of cholesterol in the body may lead to some dangerous health problems. If we don’t minimize our cholesterol intake (from the foods we eat), it will be deposited in the walls of the arteries. More problems will come out if it is deposited in the arteries leading to the brain and heart. The deposit causes the narrowing of the diameter which leads to life threatening strokes and coronary heart disease.

A stroke is caused by the cutting off of blood supply to the particular part of the brain. Once that part is deprived of oxygen and nutrients supplied by the blood, brain cells quickly die, and when they do, the parts of the body controlled by those cells stop working. This results to the lose of the ability to speak or understand. In some cases, the victims become paralyzed or stops breathing altogether depending on the severity of the damage.

Cholesterol circulates in blood in several different combinations of fats and proteins that are called lipoproteins. These lipoproteins are categorized into low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs). LDLs are the ‘bad’ cholesterol while HDLs are the ‘good’ cholesterol. More LDLs in the blood than HDLs is not good for our health. This will lead to coronary heart disease. It’s deposits in the blood will form fatty deposits that can narrow and clog the arteries. HDL on the other hand, protects you against atherosclerosis. The more HDLs you have, the less likely you are of developing coronary disease.

According to the Reader’s Digest Medical Question and Answer Guide, the allowable daily intake of cholesterol in the body is no more than 250 to 300 mg of cholesterol each day. This may be hard to achieve as some favorite foods are very high in cholesterol. Our favorite medium sized egg in the morning contains a whopping 250mg which is about a full day’s allowance. Lowering LDLs by 1 percent will gain you 2 percent reduction in the risk of coronary disease and heart attack.

A high fiber diet is very beneficial to one’s health. Fiber is a nutritious material found in the food we eat which is not broken down by the enzymes in the digestive tract. Absorbent fibers absorb water during the passage through the stomach and intestines. Fiber may give you a feeling of fullness and slow down the absorption of food by the digestive tract. In this way, the risk of heart disease is lowered as cholesterol levels may be reduced. Rich sources of fiber are oats, legumes and a variety of fruits and vegetables.