Risks associated with High Cholesterol

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance found in your blood. With high cholesterol, one can develop fatty deposits in the blood vessels. Eventually, these deposits grow, making it difficult for enough blood to flow through your arteries. Sometimes, those deposits can break suddenly and form a clot that causes a heart attack or stroke. At Best Heart Hospital in Jaipur, it is advised that the level of cholesterol should be maintained in order to avoid other severe medical conditions.

Risk factors

Factors that can enhance the risk of unhealthy cholesterol levels include:

• Poor diet - Eating too much saturated fat or trans fats can result in unhealthy cholesterol levels. Saturated fats are found in foods like fatty cuts of meat and full-fat dairy products. Trans fats are often found in packaged snacks.
• Obesity- Having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater puts one at risk of high cholesterol.
• Lack of exercise - Exercise helps boost your body's HDL, which is called as the good cholesterol.
• Smoking - Cigarette smoking may lower your level of HDL, which is the good cholesterol.
• Alcohol - Drinking too much alcohol can increase total cholesterol level.
• Age- As one’s age advances, your liver becomes less able to remove LDL cholesterol.

What are the diseases caused by high cholesterol?

According to best heart care hospital in Jaipur, high cholesterol increases the risk of other heart conditions, depending on which blood vessels are narrowed or blocked. Some of these diseases include:

• Coronary heart disease: The main risk associated with high cholesterol is coronary heart disease (CHD). If the cholesterol is too high, it builds up on the walls of your arteries. The condition causes arteries to become narrowed which further reduce blood flow to the heart. This can result in chest pain, or in some cases, even heart attack, when a blood vessel is blocked completely and the heart muscle begins to die.
• Stroke: A stroke happens when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain becomes blocked or bursts. A stroke can result out of reduction of blood supply to the brain.
• Peripheral arterial disease: High cholesterol also has been linked to Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), which refers to diseases of blood vessels that are outside the heart and brain. In PAD, fatty deposits build up along artery walls and affect blood circulation.
• Type 2 diabetes: Type 2 diabetes is another disease linked to high cholesterol because diabetes can affect the different cholesterol levels.
• High blood pressure: High blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol are linked. When the arteries become hardened and narrowed with cholesterol plaque and calcium, the heart has to strain much harder to pump blood through them. As a result, blood pressure becomes high.