Life Desk :
Lifestyle choices such as poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking and excessive drinking are lifestyle paths to heart disease. Switching over to good lifestyle habits helps the heart.
Our heart is not just a pumping machine – it’s a living organ consisting of millions of organized cells functioning to deliver blood to the organs of the body. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients necessary for the optimal functioning of the body including the heart itself. The heart beats around 70 times per minute on an average, pumping about 2,000 gallons of blood per day.
Heart diseases, medically termed as cardiovascular diseases, encompasses various conditions affecting the heart muscle, arteries, valves, lining or electrical system. The more common types of heart disease associated with lifestyle choices are:
Coronary heart disease – Equated with coronary artery disease (CAD), it refers to the tendency to form plaque in the arteries (atherosclerosis). CAD can cause chest pressure and shortness of breath resulting in pain (Angina). This is the leading cause of myocardial infarction, simply known as, ‘heart attack’.
Dilated cardiomyopathy – It is a disease where the heart muscle becomes weak and the heart chambers dilate releasing more blood with each beat. Excessive alcohol intake and high blood pressure contribute significantly to this disease.
Myocardial ischemia – In this disease, the blood supply to the muscular wall of the heart decreases, causing the heart muscles to function improperly due to low oxygen levels. Angina is a symptom of myocardial ischemia. A Danish study found that high blood pressure, BMI of more than 27, diabetes and smoking were the potential risk factors for this disease.
Hypertensive heart disease – Hypertensive heart disease occurs because of high blood pressure. The heart has to work harder to pump against the increased pressure in blood vessels. This causes the muscle to thicken and may lead to angina, arrhythmia, heart attack, stroke or sudden death.
Cardiac arrhythmia – Arrhythmia is the result of malfunction or disruption in the timing of heart beats. The heart beats either too quickly, or too slowly, or irregularly. According to the American Heart Association about 780,000 people seek medical attention each year for cardiac arrhythmia.
Do women get heart disease? Of course they do. Both, men and women are affected by heart disease. Men, however, tend to develop the disease earlier than women. This may be due to the protective effect of estrogen abundantly present in women. But the fact remains that heart disease is the number one killer worldwide for women. A report from the 2010 World Congress of Cardiology in Beijing reveals that heart disease kills more women than cancers, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria put together, and eighty percent of heart disease deaths in women occur in developing countries.
You may wonder what connection getting heart disease has with your lifestyle. An important INTERHEART study conducted in 52 countries identified nine high risk factors for heart disease, especially heart attack. These risk factors include smoking, cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption and psychosocial factors. Needless to say, all of these risk factors are associated with lifestyle choices. They found that 95 percent of heart disease is completely preventable through lifestyle changes.
Not only is heart disease preventable through lifestyle changes but it can also be reversed. A randomized, controlled trial from California suggests that comprehensive lifestyle changes may be able to reverse coronary heart disease after only one year without the use of lipid-lowering drugs.
Lifestyle changes such as changing over to good diet, abstinence from smoking, and exercising is definitely worth the effort especially in comparison to having a by-pass surgery.
Oxidative stress – precursor to heart disease
We’ll get to know why switching to good lifestyle habits are important to prevent heart disease if we know the underlying causes.
Scientists are now very clear that reactive oxygen species (ROS), that include free radicals and peroxides, are involved in heart disease. These free radicals are by-products of many biochemical and physiological processes in our body. They interact with other molecules and cause oxidative damage to cells.
“Oxidative stress” is a term for imbalance between the production of free radicals and the body’s ability to detoxify these radicals or repair the resulting damage by producing anti-oxidants. In other words, oxidative stress results when there is an overload of free radicals in the body and not enough anti-oxidants to counter them. These free radicals oxidize low density lipoproteins (LDL) which then damage the walls of the artery. Oxidative stress is one of the factors responsible for the development of atherosclerosis and other heart disease.
Studies have shown that enzymes containing essential minerals viz. selenium, copper, manganese and zinc fight free radicals thus decreasing their concentration.
So, if our diet cannot supply these minerals adequately, enzymatic defenses against free radicals may be impaired and overload of free radical occurs.
Oxidation of LDL cholesterol is believed to occur at the initial stages of atherosclerosis. Vitamin E, the principal anti-oxidant in the body, has been shown to inhibit this oxidation. Similarly, studies show that Vitamin E intake lowers risk of angina and other heart disease.
The role of oxidative stress and consequent expression of oxidative damage has been demonstrated in many research studies. It may be interesting to note that although a number of studies have validated the protective role of anti-oxidants, clinical trials have failed to prove the efficacy of anti-oxidants in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Unfortunately, there is no test available to measure the level of oxidative stress in our body, but lifestyle choices – being overweight, diet poor in nutrition, smoking, physical inactivity, pollution and modern day stress – raise the risk of oxidative stress.
Risk Factors of Oxidative Stress
Obesity and Heart Disease
Obesity is nothing but too much body fat, and this is directly responsible for diabetes and heart disease.
The WHO World Health Report, 2003, estimated that globally more than one billion adults are overweight and over 300 million adults worldwide are obese with the U.S. leading the table with 22.3 percent of obese population.
Obesity is nothing but too much body fat. Excess fat raises bad (LDL) cholesterol and lowers good (HDL) cholesterol. HDL cholesterol reduces the risk of heart disease, so lower the HDL greater the risk. Again, obesity can induce diabetes. And we all know that people with diabetes have a greater risk of developing heart disease.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is an index used to classify underweight, overweight and obesity in adults. BMI is calculated as the weight in kilograms (kg) divided by the square of the height in meters (m).
BMI = X kg/ (Y m)2
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a person is classified as –
1. Obese class I -when the BMI is 30.00 to 34.99
2. Obese class II -when the BMI is 35.00 to 39.99
3. Obese class III- when the BMI is equal or greater than 40
The WHO also noted that substantial proportion of Asian people with a BMI varying from 22 to 25 is at high risk for type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
(To be continued)
Lifestyle choices such as poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking and excessive drinking are lifestyle paths to heart disease. Switching over to good lifestyle habits helps the heart.
Our heart is not just a pumping machine – it’s a living organ consisting of millions of organized cells functioning to deliver blood to the organs of the body. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients necessary for the optimal functioning of the body including the heart itself. The heart beats around 70 times per minute on an average, pumping about 2,000 gallons of blood per day.
Heart diseases, medically termed as cardiovascular diseases, encompasses various conditions affecting the heart muscle, arteries, valves, lining or electrical system. The more common types of heart disease associated with lifestyle choices are:
Coronary heart disease – Equated with coronary artery disease (CAD), it refers to the tendency to form plaque in the arteries (atherosclerosis). CAD can cause chest pressure and shortness of breath resulting in pain (Angina). This is the leading cause of myocardial infarction, simply known as, ‘heart attack’.
Dilated cardiomyopathy – It is a disease where the heart muscle becomes weak and the heart chambers dilate releasing more blood with each beat. Excessive alcohol intake and high blood pressure contribute significantly to this disease.
Myocardial ischemia – In this disease, the blood supply to the muscular wall of the heart decreases, causing the heart muscles to function improperly due to low oxygen levels. Angina is a symptom of myocardial ischemia. A Danish study found that high blood pressure, BMI of more than 27, diabetes and smoking were the potential risk factors for this disease.
Hypertensive heart disease – Hypertensive heart disease occurs because of high blood pressure. The heart has to work harder to pump against the increased pressure in blood vessels. This causes the muscle to thicken and may lead to angina, arrhythmia, heart attack, stroke or sudden death.
Cardiac arrhythmia – Arrhythmia is the result of malfunction or disruption in the timing of heart beats. The heart beats either too quickly, or too slowly, or irregularly. According to the American Heart Association about 780,000 people seek medical attention each year for cardiac arrhythmia.
Do women get heart disease? Of course they do. Both, men and women are affected by heart disease. Men, however, tend to develop the disease earlier than women. This may be due to the protective effect of estrogen abundantly present in women. But the fact remains that heart disease is the number one killer worldwide for women. A report from the 2010 World Congress of Cardiology in Beijing reveals that heart disease kills more women than cancers, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria put together, and eighty percent of heart disease deaths in women occur in developing countries.
You may wonder what connection getting heart disease has with your lifestyle. An important INTERHEART study conducted in 52 countries identified nine high risk factors for heart disease, especially heart attack. These risk factors include smoking, cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption and psychosocial factors. Needless to say, all of these risk factors are associated with lifestyle choices. They found that 95 percent of heart disease is completely preventable through lifestyle changes.
Not only is heart disease preventable through lifestyle changes but it can also be reversed. A randomized, controlled trial from California suggests that comprehensive lifestyle changes may be able to reverse coronary heart disease after only one year without the use of lipid-lowering drugs.
Lifestyle changes such as changing over to good diet, abstinence from smoking, and exercising is definitely worth the effort especially in comparison to having a by-pass surgery.
Oxidative stress – precursor to heart disease
We’ll get to know why switching to good lifestyle habits are important to prevent heart disease if we know the underlying causes.
Scientists are now very clear that reactive oxygen species (ROS), that include free radicals and peroxides, are involved in heart disease. These free radicals are by-products of many biochemical and physiological processes in our body. They interact with other molecules and cause oxidative damage to cells.
“Oxidative stress” is a term for imbalance between the production of free radicals and the body’s ability to detoxify these radicals or repair the resulting damage by producing anti-oxidants. In other words, oxidative stress results when there is an overload of free radicals in the body and not enough anti-oxidants to counter them. These free radicals oxidize low density lipoproteins (LDL) which then damage the walls of the artery. Oxidative stress is one of the factors responsible for the development of atherosclerosis and other heart disease.
Studies have shown that enzymes containing essential minerals viz. selenium, copper, manganese and zinc fight free radicals thus decreasing their concentration.
So, if our diet cannot supply these minerals adequately, enzymatic defenses against free radicals may be impaired and overload of free radical occurs.
Oxidation of LDL cholesterol is believed to occur at the initial stages of atherosclerosis. Vitamin E, the principal anti-oxidant in the body, has been shown to inhibit this oxidation. Similarly, studies show that Vitamin E intake lowers risk of angina and other heart disease.
The role of oxidative stress and consequent expression of oxidative damage has been demonstrated in many research studies. It may be interesting to note that although a number of studies have validated the protective role of anti-oxidants, clinical trials have failed to prove the efficacy of anti-oxidants in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Unfortunately, there is no test available to measure the level of oxidative stress in our body, but lifestyle choices – being overweight, diet poor in nutrition, smoking, physical inactivity, pollution and modern day stress – raise the risk of oxidative stress.
Risk Factors of Oxidative Stress
Obesity and Heart Disease
Obesity is nothing but too much body fat, and this is directly responsible for diabetes and heart disease.
The WHO World Health Report, 2003, estimated that globally more than one billion adults are overweight and over 300 million adults worldwide are obese with the U.S. leading the table with 22.3 percent of obese population.
Obesity is nothing but too much body fat. Excess fat raises bad (LDL) cholesterol and lowers good (HDL) cholesterol. HDL cholesterol reduces the risk of heart disease, so lower the HDL greater the risk. Again, obesity can induce diabetes. And we all know that people with diabetes have a greater risk of developing heart disease.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is an index used to classify underweight, overweight and obesity in adults. BMI is calculated as the weight in kilograms (kg) divided by the square of the height in meters (m).
BMI = X kg/ (Y m)2
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a person is classified as –
1. Obese class I -when the BMI is 30.00 to 34.99
2. Obese class II -when the BMI is 35.00 to 39.99
3. Obese class III- when the BMI is equal or greater than 40
The WHO also noted that substantial proportion of Asian people with a BMI varying from 22 to 25 is at high risk for type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
(To be continued)
