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Diet For Coronary Heart Disease And Artherosclerosis - Part I By Mumtaz Khalid Ismail
What causes coronary heart disease?
More Links Risk factors for coronary heart disease
Coronary heart disease or ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is due to the cardiac muscle damage as a result of inadequate coronary blood supply resulting in reduced oxygen supply to the heart muscles. It is affected in people of all ages but most frequently in middle age. Mainly it is due to the narrowing of coronary artery due to artherosclersis. Artherosclerosis is a condition in which fat is deposited inside the wall of blood vessels. There are many other factors implicated as the cause of artherosclerosis. Since cholesterol is present in the lesion and the presence of high blood cholesterol, it is been considered as the main cause.
Atherosclerosis of the coronary artery may lead to the following condition -
- Angina pectoris (strangulating pain over the chest wall).
- Myocardial infraction (heart attack).
1. High calorie intake. 2. High saturated fat intake.
3. High blood cholesterol.
4. High blood pressure.
5. Diabetes mellitus
6. Smoking: Smokers are more prone to myocardial infraction due to:
- The high-density lipoprotein synthesis is lowered due to smoking.
- Nicotine content of cigarette causes narrowing blood vessels resulting in reduction in oxygen supply to the heart.
- Smoking increases the blood pressure and heart rate thus increase the strain on heart.
- It increase clotting of blood in blood vessels
7. Sex: Coronary artery disease is affected more in male than female's upto the age of 45. After menopause women have greater chance of developing the disease and by the age of 70 there is no difference between the sexes.
8. Stress and strain: Large intake of alcohol, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia all has shown high incidence of coronary heart disease. Chances of developing ischaemic heart disease doubles if a person have both diabetes and high blood pressure.
9. Obesity: If the body mass index is more than 28 then they are more prone to coronary heart disease. Obesity and hypertension or any related disease is at higher risk. Risk of developing heart disease is increased in obesity due to:
- Heart has to work more due to increased body mass.
- Efficiency of heart is reduced due to the fat deposition in heart muscle.
- Fat stores in general and blood cholesterol level in particular is usually increased in obesity.
10. Sedentary life and lack of physical activity: Incidence of ischaemic heart disease is high in people leading sedentary life and low in active people. Physical activity increases the production of high-density lipoprotein (good lipoprotein), which scavenges the cholesterol. Brisk walking for 30 - 45 minutes every day will usually prevent a heart attack. This is only one factor.
11. Hereditary.: Heredity plays a major role in developing heart disease. If there is history of heart attack before 55 in father and before 65 in mother the off springs are likely to get a heart attack at an earlier age. Short and fat people are more likely to develop the disease than tall and thin people are.
12. Hormonal Factors: Ischaemic heart disease is increased in women after menopause. If ovaries were removed before the age of 35 there would be a rise in cholesterol level. With oral contraceptives the risk is increased further.
Other risk factors like consumption of refined sugars, low fibre diet, coffee, hardness of water and use of oral contraceptives have also been implicated in ischaemic heart disease.
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