Both sides of the dreaded cholesterol
- It is a molecule essential for human life, which causes uncontrolled deleterious effects
- You have to balance the levels of HDL and LDL
- It is also essential to control triglycerides
- Food habits are fundamental
There is no doubt that cholesterol is bad press, and no wonder. The massive presence of this substance in the blood, which scientists call situation hypercholesterolemia is a major cardiovascular risk factors and stroke.
It is to be precise the starting point of atherosclerosis, which over the years leads to heart attack or stroke. But what few know is that humans could not live another minute without a proper share of cholesterol in our veins.
“This type of fat molecule is essential for life,” says Dr. Alejandro Ugarte, head of the Diabetes and Nutrition Section of the Center for Medical Education and Clinical Investigation (Cemic) and coauthor of “Cholesterol: What it is and how to control” — . Part of cell membranes, the basic structure of many hormones and bile salts are involved in digestion. ”
The problem, as we anticipated, is its excess: “When there are excessive levels of blood cholesterol, and this is not its normal, which are the cells that require it to operate, the surplus tends to deposit in the inner layer of the arteries or arterial endothelium, “explains Dr. Ugarte.
There, hidden, cholesterol molecules generate an inflammatory process that brings together other elements that circulate in the blood, resulting in the formation of atheroma that are gradually closing the light of the arteries, account specialist.
Everything goes silent until a hypertensive crisis or stress, for example, break the wall of the atheroma and dumps its contents into the bloodstream.
When this happens, the body attempts to repair the damage of the plate, but the attempt is futile and only allows lead to ending a thrombus obstructing the artery. When this occurs in a coronary artery, we face a heart attack, if it occurs within the brain to a stroke or stroke.
Credit to: Sebastian A. Rivers of the editors of La Nacion