Cholesterol and cardiovascular disease - Research Paper Example

Keywords: Cholesterol, hypercholesterolemia, heart attack, statins INTRODUCTION Cholesterol is a fat, a sterol. It is one of the main constituents of the cell membranes. Animal cells exclusively manufacture cholesterol, so it is an animal fat. Cholesterol is insoluble in water and is classified on the basis of density into very low density lipoproteins, intermediate density lipoproteins, low density lipoproteins and high density lipoproteins. The elevated levels of cholesterol in the human body play a very drastic role.

The most crucial among all the effects is its effect on heart. The related symptoms may also arise depending upon the quantity of it in the blood and organs. REALTION BETWEEN CHOLESTROL AND HEART DISEASE When the level of cholesterol rises in blood, it starts getting accumulated in the inner walls of the vessels. Not all the fats are bad. There are two main types of cholesterol, we will deal here. One is the good cholesterol, HDL and other is bad one, LDL. These are the two major types of fats in which they move around in the body.

LDL clogs the arteries and HDL actually works opposite to it and helps clearing the cholesterol from blood. The total cholesterol level should be less than 200 mg/dL. The LDL level should be below 100 mg/dL. In general, higher the LDL levels, more are the chances of getting cardiac diseases. The LDL is of low density, it tends to accumulate in the blood vessels instead of circulating in the blood. Over the time, this buildup of LDL causes the hardening of the arteries. The arteries narrow down and blood flow gets slow.

The blood is therefore, unable to carry the nutrients to the heart and person suffers from the chest pain. As the plaque deposit grows, it can block the main artery, coronary artery, causing heart attack (Webmd.com, 2013). RISK OF GETTING CARDIAC DISEASE Hypercholesterolemia is a modifying risk factor for coronary artery disease. There are many risk factors associated with an elevated level of cholesterol in body, some major are obesity, diabetes, heart failure, congestive heart disease, hormonal imbalance, glucose production inhibition, bleeding disorders, gynecological disorders like infertility, eye sight loss and many more.

Heart attack is the major cause of death in the world. This heart attack and related cardiac diseases are due to the cholesterol. It is estimated that 54% of deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are due to CVS disorders. In Oman, it is about 49%, and 13% in Somalia. The deaths due to the heart problems in UAE are about 28%, 19% in Sudan and 52% in Lebanon. About 600,000 Americans die due to heart attack. Coronary artery disease is the most common cause of their death. Every year, about 7 million Americans have heart attack.

Out of these, some might had had an attack and others suffer first attack. The risk factors contributing to these deaths are obesity, poor diet, excessive alcohol intake and high lipid intake. The most common among all is the diet having high levels of bad fats along with sedentary lifestyle. About 49% have these risk factors in general,