Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis refers to plaque deposition on the inner wall of arteries. These plaques are composed of cholesterol and other lipid substances and it leads to arterial stiffening and narrowing.

Everyone has these plaques, but not to the same extent. In general, the older a person is the more plaques he/she has and the bigger they are. Small, simple atherosclerotic plaques start to deposit in the aorta at the age of three. In some individuals they do not advance much with age, while in others they can cause complete blockage of their arteries. These plaques are predominant in individuals over 35 years old and they affect more males than females. Here are the factors that aggravate atherosclerosis:

1. Hypertension
2. Tobacco smoking
3. Diabetes Mellitus
4. Obesity
5. Physical Inactivity
6. High cholesterol
7. Hypothyroidism
8. High testosterone levels in women/Low testosterone levels in men

If you have any of these conditions, you should try to control them either with medications or through life-style modifications. Regular exercise and a healty diet can help to reduce atherosclerotic plaques formation.

Atherosclerosis and its complications are responsible for half of all the mortality rates in developed countries. It has detrimental effects on many organs such as the heart, the brain and the kidneys. The plaques can lead to reduced blood flow in the legs, for example, and this could result in ulcerations or ultimately leg amputation. The same scenario could happen in the heart or the brain, thus precipitating a heart attack or a stroke.

There is no definite treatment for atherosclerosis. Risk factors should be controlled tightly and regular exercise should be performed. Here are the guidelines for a diet recommended by the American Heart Association:

Try to keep the total fat <30% of the total daily calories and the saturated fat <10%. Carbohydrates should constitute 50-60% and proteins 10-20% of the total calories. Cholesterol intake should be no more than 300mg per day.