How Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease
Heart disease and stroke are the top silent killers in the world because of high cholesterol. Is cholesterol a culprit of heart disease? Decades ago, we classified risks of heart attack into major and minor. The three most notorious major risk factors were, and still are, hypertension, high cholesterol, and smoking. I would say that most of the cases of heart disease are link to high cholesterol especially those who suffer from obesity.What is cholesterol?Cholesterol is a sterol (a combination steroid and alcohol), a lipid found in the cell membranes of all body tissues, and is transported in the blood plasma of all animals. Trace amounts of cholesterol are also found in plant membranes.Most of the cholesterol is synthesized by the body and some has dietary origin. Cholesterol is more abundant in tissues which either synthesize more or have more abundant densely-packed membranes, for example, the liver, spinal cord, brain, and atheromata (arterial plaques).
Cholesterol plays a central role in many biochemical processes, but is best known for the association of cardiovascular disease with various lipoprotein cholesterol transport patterns and high levels of cholesterol in the blood. Cholesterol is insoluble in blood, but is transported in the circulatory system bound to one of the varieties of lipoprotein, spherical particles which have an exterior composed mainly of water-soluble proteins.In recent years, the term "bad cholesterol" has been used to refer to cholesterol contained in LDL (low-density lipoprotein) which, according to the lipid hypothesis, is thought to have harmful actions, and "good cholesterol" to refer to cholesterol contained in HDL (high-density lipoprotein), thought to have beneficial actions.Not all types of cholesterol are bad. According to the scientific explanation above, it is made clear that there is no way a human being can survive without the existence of cholesterol in the body. In a balance state in our body, cholesterol is not perceived as a culprit. It has its role to carry out its function to maintain the good condition of a human body from building membrane in living cell and tissue, making hormones to enhancing our sexual activity.Cholesterol is formed in the liver from saturated fat where enzymes in the liver react on it. When it leaves the liver, its waxy nature does not enter into the blood stream but floats freely. It is easily being carried by lipoproteins (biological molecules of fat and proteins).
The cholesterol that is carried from the liver to various tissues in our body is the LDL- cholesterol and the excess which is the HDL- cholesterol is transported back to the liver from the tissues. The activity of transportation of the lipoproteins is normal but problem occurs when the LDL- cholesterol which is the bad cholesterol builds up and oxidized by a group of unstable oxygen molecules known as "free radical."The oxidized cholesterol will Oxidized Cholesterol shrink in size and becomes sticky which will result in artery hardening (atherosclerosis). The condition will cause the arteries of the heart and tissues to narrow and eventually damaged. This situation becomes severe when blood flow is restricted and therefore increasing the risk of stroke and heart attack. Until today there is still on-going studies on cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis.
