New Ways to Stave Away Atherosclerosis

Plaque Buildup is Highly Unlikely if you Lead a Healthy Lifestyle

Beauty industry and its various products has enabled individuals of different age groups to look younger than their age. Its even become hard to recognize whether someone is a mother/father of a child by their age and looks. Its also because people are getting married late and settle down even later with babies. Individuals are interested in achieving certain goals in life before choosing to marry. This compels them to work incessantly unbothered about what they eat or how much they sleep. Physicians, nutritionists and dietitians keep insisting on the importance of exercising and living a healthy lifestyle in all ways possible, but we do what we like to do. Such lethargic thoughts, careless lifestyle practices and craving for money has led mankind to a stage where heart attack strikes the young, heart failure is common in men/women in their 40s and diabetes hits children who are in their teenage years.
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Artery Clogging
Arteries are your body’s blood distributors. They are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood throughout your body parts starting from your head to the toe. It’s possible to carry blood unperturbed only when the inner walls are smooth for the blood to flow easily. Not all individuals are blessed with this and some individuals have clogged arteries due to plaque buildup inside them. Plaque is a sticky substance composed of calcium, fat, cholesterol, cellular waste and fibrin. This can stick onto your artery walls making blood vessels narrower. Atherosclerosis is a condition due to plaque deposits that narrow and harden arteries. The common causes for this condition include improper food habits such as eating bad cholesterol-rich foods, smoking, diabetes, high blood sugar, sedentary lifestyle, stress and obesity. Our hectic lifestyles and demanding working hours prevent us from pursuing healthy lifestyle practices despite knowing about the advantages of eating healthy and staying active. In some people, laziness and lethargy overpower desire, need and will to stay fit. A group of scientists have come up with a unique solution for dealing with atherosclerosis.

Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association the researchers recommended for a reduction in apolipoprotein B in young and middle-aged adults. What’s this apolipoprotein B?

Apolipoprotein B
Lipoproteins are tiny, complex particles that transport fat and cholesterol through the blood. They are of different types but its those lipoproteins that contain apolipoprotein B that cause atherosclerosis.
Apolipoprotein B is the main lipoprotein of chylomicrons, VLDL and LDL particles. It is the primary organizing protein required for the formation of these particles. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol measurements are mainly used for assessing cardiovascular risk. In due course researchers understood that apolipoprotein B (apo B) was a better indicator of LDL cholesterol concentration (1 molecule per LDL particle). In the past few decades researches have pin-pointed to this group of blood proteins (includes LDL or bad cholesterol) as the main enemies for causing atherosclerosis. High levels of this lipoprotein along with increased LDL particle concentration are the main reasons for plaque development.

Researchers feel that lowering the presence of the apo B lipoprotein in individuals might drive away the attack of atherosclerosis on the individual. Atherosclerosis is necessary for heart attack. Absence of the possibility of atherosclerosis steers the individual away from the attack of a heart attack/stroke as these diseases don’t happen without atherosclerosis. Its like saving an entire generation from the miseries of heart attack and stroke. According to researchers, the next step would be to find out whether atherosclerosis could be reversed in individuals with high risk for it using medications.

Some individuals are genetically predisposed to lower levels of LDL cholesterol and in turn are at a least risk of cardiovascular diseases. Researchers are now interested to replicate the genetic states of these people in other individuals as well who are in their younger age and monitor whether their risk too decreases over the years (if the levels are maintained). Until then, the best way to save yourself from heart attack and stroke is to maintain low levels of apo B lipoprotein and LDL levels right from young age. Leading a healthy lifestyle is the best way to lower your apo B and LDL levels but is it practically possible in this fast-food world? It is, say dietitians and nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com who specialize in obesity/lifestyle problems and provide diets for every medical condition.