Prevention of atherosclerosis

What does high level of blood cholesterol lead to?

Everybody knows that high level of cholesterol is the reason of atherosclerosis.

Depending on the fact in what vessels there are deposits of cholesterol, people with atherosclerosis suffer from different problems. Patients with heart blood vessels affected by atherosclerosis suffer from stenocardia, which often leads to infarction. When atherosclerosis affects vessels that carry blood to the brain, there may develop a stroke. If the disease affects leg vessels — there develops obliterating atherosclerosis of low extremities.

 What are the reasons of atherosclerosis development?

Cholesterol comes into organism with food and is synthesized in liver. Requirements of the organism are sufficiently satisfied with liver-synthesized cholesterol. But people consume a great quantity of cholesterol with food. Its main source is fatty products of animal origin. If there is plenty of them in dietary intake, the content of cholesterol in blood increases, and it turns from organism’s essential friend into its deadly enemy. Cholesterol as it is stays the same, but in blood it exists in different complexes with other fatty and protein substances – they are called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoproteins (LDLP) carry cholesterol with blood into intestine and liver tissues. If there are too many cholesterol particles, there is an excess of cholesterol that accumulates in blood. And it is then low-density lipoproteins may be called "bad" forms of cholesterol. The excess of cholesterol "makes habitable" the walls of blood vessel. Around these deposits there forms connective tissue. These are atherosclerosis plaques, which narrow vessel lumens and complicate blood flow. With the lapse of time a plaque opens, as an abscess, and there forms a thrombus, which is constantly growing. Gradually it closes like a plug the whole vessel lumen. That is why such serious diseases as infarctions and strokes develop. Their initiation is associated with increased level of cholesterol, C, that is in "bad" low-density lipoproteins – LDLP. In complete laboratory blood count, the index of "bad" cholesterol is indicated as LDLP-C or LDLP-C. But in blood there are also "good" lipoprotein complexes. They are called high-density lipoproteins – HDLP. They remove cholesterol from location of its deposit in vessel walls and inhibit formation of atherosclerosis plaques.

 Which indexes of cholesterol and LDLP are within the norm and which ones are increased?

There is a direct relationship between increase of plasma cholesterol and LDLP concentration and the risk of atherosclerotic lesion of both heart vessels and other vessels.

Cardiologists all over the world adhere to an opinion, that everyone over 20 should know his/her cholesterol level and its distribution in "bad" and "good" complexes. In the table below there are normal and increased concentrations of cholesterol and LDLP in plasma.

So, normal level of total cholesterol is 3.6 – 5.2 millimole/L, numbers 5.2 – 6.5 millimole/L indicates that you belong to the group of risk as for atherosclerosis development. The level of total cholesterol between 6.5 and 8.0 millimole/L indicates moderate hypercholesterolemia, over 8.0 millimole/L – hypercholesterolemia.

In the norm the content of LDLP should be not more than 3.5 millimole/L, the content from 3.5 to 4.0 millimole/L is considered to be increased, and over 4.0 millimole/L – a high one.

If the levels of cholesterol and LDLP are increased, it is time to sound the alarm!

  Prevention of atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is promoted by sedentary life style, smoking, fatty food, as well as excessive body weight gain. Prevention of atherosclerosis requires conversion to the food containing little fat and cholesterol. In addition, it is necessary to regulate arterial blood pressure with diet and, if necessary, with medicinal preparations. It is very important to do physical exercises (especially in case of sedentary life style), maintain normal body weight, and give up smoking. If high level of low-density lipoproteins (LDLP) does not decrease with changing of life style and diet, it is necessary to take preparations, which decrease cholesterol level.

 What one should do to reduce the development of atherosclerosis?

 When clinical signs of atherosclerosis have already manifested, it is possible to reduce its progressing, and in some cases also to cause the regress of atherosclerotic changes, with the help of hypolipidemic agents, which decrease cholesterol content in LDLP composition and increase the level of HDLP-connected cholesterol in blood. It is possible to decrease cholesterol level and atherosclerosis plaques using preparation Lipitin A, which contains atorvastatine as an active substance. Atorvastatine is the most frequently prescribed hypolipidemic agent world-wide, because its high effectiveness and safety have been proved in large-scale clinical studies.