Cholesterol and your Heart

Around 25 % of the heart diseases in India occur in people below 40 years of age and if the trend continues then by 2010 India would have 100 million patients with cardiovascular diseases which would be 60 per cent of the worlds heart patients.

Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance that is found among the lipids (fats) in the bloodstream and in all our body's cells. Cholesterol, which is needed for forming cell membranes and other important body functions, forms a major part of a healthy body. But a high level of cholesterol in the blood — hypercholesterolemia — is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack.

Heart is a four-chambered muscular organ that pumps 8,000 to 11,500 liters of blood. The heart is divided into two sides. Each side has a chamber called artrium where blood collects and a chamber called ventricles that pumps blood out of the heart.

Cholesterol and its various types-total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and their effects on heart disease have created a fair amount of confusion.
It comes mainly from two sources.

1 Internal source, which is produced in the body by the liver.
2 External source, which is found in animal products such as meat, poultry, seafood and dairy.

Saturated fats are the main culprits in raising blood cholesterol. Foods from animals that have high amounts of saturated fatty acids are chicken fat, eggs, butter, milk and other dairy products. Saturated fats are restricted to only 10 % of total calories each day.

Cholesterol travels to the body through the blood stream with the help of special carriers called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) are the two important lipoproteins in the body. LDL is called the “ Bad cholesterol “ because high level of this can result in clogging of the arteries resulting in heart attack. HDL on the other hand is called good cholesterol because a high level of HDL seems to protect against heart attack.

Drug therapy combined with lifestyle changes helps people with very high cholesterol reduce heart attacks by 34 percent and cardiacdefine deaths by more than 40 percent.

To control your cholesterol a cholesterol screening should be done and one should live on a healthy diet. The easiest way is to avoid high cholesterol is to turn vegetarian. There is zero cholesterol in plant-based foods. Understanding the facts about cholesterol will help take better care of the heart and live a longer, healthier life with reduced risk of strokes and heart diseases.