HYDERABAD, Dec 01 (APP): Physician Dr.Ghulam Hussain Baloch of Agha Khan Maternal and Child Care Centre, Hyderabad said that cholesterol was responsible for heart attacks and its level was increasing in the human body due to stress.
Talking to APP here on Friday, he said stress is one of the main reasons for the increasing cholesterol level in the human body. He said that high blood pressure, diabetic and cholesterol were the main causes of heart attacks in the past but nowadays there were so many risk factors leading to heart diseases.
Dr.Ghulam Hussain said stress is not an emotion but a process by which individual responds to environmental conditions and events perceived as threatening or challenging.
He said systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were found to have increased due to stress and added that psychological stress had long been thought to be associated with the coronary artery disease (CAD) as a risk factor that developed arteriosclerosis and as a precipitating factor in the event of a heart attack, added.
He further informed that cholesterol was also present in some foods including eggs, butter and cream, liver and kidney.
The total amount of cholesterol in our bodies at any one time will depend on the amounts synthesized and excreted and the amount of dietary cholesterol absorbed. Usually only about one third of the cholesterol in the body comes from the diet, Dr. Baloch informed.
He said that complications of raised blood pressure included heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, renal impairment, retinal hemorrhage and visual impairment.
He said that the raise in total cholesterol was another major cause of the disease in both developed and the developing world, while a third of ischemic heart disease was attributable to high cholesterol. Insufficient physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for mortality, he added.
He said a specific amount of cholesterol is essential for the human body but when it exceeds the required level, it creates plaque. This plaque is called atherosclerotic plaque, which narrows the arteries, obstructs smooth blood flow, and causes clotting of blood, which can cause heart attack, he informed.
Dr.Baloch emphasized the need to keep one’s blood cholesterol level under control.
He said that the people’s lack of ability to bear the cost of treatment was also a major social and economic problem, which was not helping to the control of heart diseases at all.
Dr. Ghulam Hussain stressed on the importance of reliable and high-quality diagnostic and treatment facilities for those suffering from cardiac ailments.
He advised the people to achieve energy balance and a healthy weight, limit energy intake from total fats, and shift fat consumption from saturated to non-saturated fats.
He also advised to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, pulses, whole grains and nuts, to limit the intake of free sugars and salt, and to ensure that salt is iodized.