Metabolism and Metabolic Syndrome; What are Remedies?

What is Metabolism?

What is metabolism? Generally, metabolism refers to the chemical processes that occur within a living organism to maintain life. In other words, metabolism refers to all chemical reactions involved in maintaining the living state of the cells and the organism. When your body metabolizes foods you eat, it changes them into other forms that can be used as energy that gives you physical power to do works. In fact, metabolism produces energy from the food you eat. A metabolic disorder disrupts metabolism in your body. Without metabolism, your body can’t produce energy from foods and you feel weakness in spite of eating foods. The development of different diseases especially the cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, or type 2 diabetes may be occurred due to metabolic syndrome which means a cluster of metabolic disorders..

What is metabolic syndrome?

In general, metabolic syndrome means a cluster of biochemical and physiological abnormalities associated with the development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. www.heart.org characterizes metabolic syndrome as a cluster of metabolic disorders. If you are with these conditions together, the chance of future cardiovascular disease is greater than any one factor presenting alone. Suppose, if you have high blood pressure along with high fasting glucose levels and abdominal obesity, you may be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. The major causes of metabolic syndrome are overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, getting older, and genetic factors.

According to www.heart.org, metabolic syndrome occurs when a man has three or more of the following measurements:

• Obesity: waist measuring is greater than 40 inches for men, and greater than 35 inches for women).
• Glucose level: 100 mg/dL or greater (greater than 5.6 mmol/L)
• Cholesterol (HDL): less than 40 mg/dL for men or less than 50 mg/dL for women.
• Triglyceride level: 150 mg/dL or greater.
• Blood pressure (top number) of 130 mm Hg or greater, or (bottom number) of 85 mm Hg or greater.

How can you understand you have metabolic syndrome?

How can you understand you have metabolic syndrome? You may have metabolic syndrome if you feel one of these symptoms – increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, excess weight, and abnormal cholesterol levels. You may not feel symptoms in earlier stage. The www.heart.org suggests that metabolic syndrome is not one that one can assess without the help of a healthcare provider. However, you will need to discuss your combined risks with the healthcare provider to identify metabolic syndrome if you have a large waist circumference and have been told by the healthcare providers that you have another condition like elevated triglycerides, high blood sugar or high blood pressure.

What is liable for metabolic syndrome?

Sugar consumption, especially from sugary drinks, is one of the largest, but preventable, contributors to the global epidemic of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, bad cholesterol, and weight gain – all of these are parts of metabolic syndrome. Fructose, glucose, and sucrose are sugar. Fructose is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into blood during digestion. We get fructose in honey, tree and vine fruits, flowers, berries, and most root vegetables. Fructose is commercially derived from sugar cane, sugar beets, and maize. In liquid form, fructose is worse! Excessive consumption of fructose can cause steatosis (fatty liver) that is the buildup of fat in the liver.

The European Food Safety Authority stated that fructose is preferred in food and beverage manufacturing to replace sucrose and glucose as fructose has lower effect on blood glucose level following eating a meal. But EFSA noted that “high intakes of fructose may lead to metabolic complications such as dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance, and increased visceral adiposity”. As such, as a common sweetening ingredient for foods and beverages, fructose has been associated with increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders that are part of metabolic syndrome.

Can you reverse metabolic syndrome?

As a best metabolic syndrome treatment, a plant-based diet can help you control metabolic syndrome. The good news is that with the changes in diet and exercise habits, you can prevent, control, or even can reverse metabolic syndrome. By losing weight, eating a healthy diet and increasing physical activities, you can reduce the metabolic syndrome. If you don’t, you could develop significant health risks relating to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

There are various types of weight loss foods that you can consume for weight loss. Consume complex carbohydrates which are found in foods such as peas, beans, whole grains, and vegetables. These are called the best metabolic syndrome diets. In order to lose weight, consume weight loss diet regularly. Visit this site weight loss diet where you can get more information on weight loss diet.

Here are also some important steps provided by American Heart Association for patients and their doctors in managing the metabolic syndrome:

• Routinely monitor body weight (especially central obesity).
• Monitor blood glucose, lipoproteins and blood pressure.
• You should treat individual risk factors (hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure and high blood glucose) according to established guidelines.
• While choosing high blood pressure drugs you should be very careful because different drugs have different effects on insulin sensitivity.

Now you understand all about the metabolic syndrome, symptoms, and its remedy. Though metabolic syndrome is a serious condition, you can reduce your risks significantly by reducing your weight taking weight loss diet; increasing physical activity; eating a heart-healthy diet that’s rich in whole grains, fish, vegetables, fruit; and

 

Know about the Coronary Artery Disease and save the life from life threatening diseases!

To save life from the life threatening diseases, you should have knowledge about Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). First of all, you have to know about coronary arteries in your body which are liable for CAD. Our body needs oxygen-rich blood that comes from the heart which takes blood from the lung. Oxygen helps us continue our lives. For this reason, our heart is very important organ. The heart supplies blood to every muscle of the body. But as heart is an organ, it has muscle which also needs oxygen-rich blood for keeping its functionality. Coronary Artery helps to supply blood to heart muscle. Among different blood vessels, the aorta is the main blood supplier to your body. The aorta branches off into two main coronary blood vessels which are called coronary arteries. These arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the entire heart muscle to keep heart’s functionality. Coronary Artery Disease occurs when coronary arteries become hardened and narrowed hampering blood supply to the heart.

The Terms “Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)” and “Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)” are Interchangeable.

The Terms “Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)” and “Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)” are Interchangeable. As per American Heart Association, Coronary Heart Disease is generally a factor for building up of plaque in the arteries of heart that could lead to heart attack. The same thing implies when someone suffers from Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). So many professionals use the terms interchangeably. Actually, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is a result of Coronary Artery Disease, or CAD, said an American Heart Association volunteer, Edward A. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.  who is also the Leon H. Charney Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and also of the Marc and Ruti Bell Vascular Biology and Disease Program at the NYU School of Medicine.

What Are The Symptoms Of Coronary Artery Disease?

Coronary Artery Disease Symptoms are very common. My.clevelandclinic.org says “The most common symptom of Coronary Artery Disease is angina (also called angina pectoris).” If your heart muscle doesn’t get enough oxygen-rich blood, you may feel chest pain or discomfort. It is called Angina. My.clevelandclinic.org also described Angina as heaviness, tightness, pressure, aching, burning, numbness, fullness, or squeezing. Generally, Angina is not only felt in the chest, but it may also be felt in the left shoulder, arms, neck, back or jaw.

As it is learned from American Heart Association that the traditional risk factors for Coronary Artery disease are high LDL Dcholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, family history, diabetes, smoking, being post-menopausal for women and being older than 45 for men, everybody should be aware of these risk factors to take preventive measures. Besides these, Obesity may also be a risk factor.

What to be aware before going to take Coronary Heart Disease Treatment?

As the Terms “Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)” and “Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)” are Interchangeable, becoming aware of the CAD will help you prevent CHD as well. A gentle reminder by Fisher, a former editor of the American Heart Association journal, ATVB, hints that “Coronary Artery Disease begins in childhood, so that by the teenage years, there is evidence that plaques that will stay with us for life are formed in most people.” So, preventive measures must be thought to teenage. Healthy lifestyles will delay the progression of CAD, and there is hope that CAD can be regressed before it causes CHD.” Moreover, incorporating some important elements with your lifestyle like good nutrition, weight management and getting plenty of physical activity that facilitate living a healthy lifestyle, can play a big role in avoiding CAD and CHD as well.

Johnny Lee, M.D., president of New York Heart Associates, and an American Heart Association volunteer, agreed that “Coronary Artery Disease is preventable.” So, knowledge about coronary arteries and coronary artery disease symptoms, you have already learned from this discussion, will save your life preventing some life threatening diseases, like CHD including heart attack, a kind of heart diseases.

CITATION: 

http://www.heart.org

https://my.clevelandclinic.org

Peripheral Artery Disease and Its Treatment!

Peripheral Artery Disease

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) is a disease that results from narrowing of any arteries of your body. Arteries are any of the muscular-walled tubes forming part of the circulation system by which blood (mainly that which has been oxygenated) is conveyed from the heart to all parts of the body. Peripheral artery problem generally manifests at legs; but other arteries, including arms, can be affected as well. If this narrowing fact occurs in the heart, it is called coronary artery disease. On the contrary, if it occurs in the brain, it is called cerebrovascular disease. However, the symptom of this problem generally begins with the intermittent claudication which generally manifests as leg pain, leg discomfort, leg cramping. It develops with your daily activity and is relieved again with rest, but it recurs upon resuming activity.

You may feel this pain in the calf, but it may also be felt in the thighs or buttocks. Legs or arms cramping generally occurs during walking or exercising.  But this cramping may occur during sleeping. Besides this condition, you may feel legs or arms cramping with severe pain. In that case, it is considered “a narrowing or blockage of arteries is causing poor blood flow to your legs or arms.” These kinds of problems in legs or arms are called Peripheral Artery Diseases.

Peripheral Artery Disease Treatment:

If you feel legs or arms cramping with severe pain, you should go to a doctor who will determine whether you are having Peripheral Artery Disease. For diagnosis, your doctor will arrange for taking some tests to ascertain your problem. Your doctor will rely on to diagnose peripheral artery disease which are as below:

• Physical exam. Performing a physical examination, your doctor will find signs of Peripheral Artery Disease with the stethoscope
• Ankle-brachial index (ABI). Most doctors generally use this test to diagnose Peripheral Artery Disease. This test compares the blood pressure in your ankle with the blood pressure in your arm.
• Ultrasound. With a special ultrasound imaging techniques, such as Doppler ultrasound, your doctor can take help to know about blood flow through your blood vessels and identify blocked or narrowed arteries.
• Angiography. With this test, your doctor can review blood flow through your arteries.
• Blood tests. To measure your cholesterol and triglycerides and to check for diabetes, you doctor will make a blood test.

After the diagnosis, doctor will decide followings for taking some preventive measures:

• Manage symptoms, such as leg pain, so that you can resume physical activities.
• Stop the progression of atherosclerosis throughout your body to reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.

With the changing of your lifestyle you can accomplish the above goals. If you are a smoker, quitting smoking will reduce your risk of complications. When lifestyle changes are not enough, then additional medical treatment will be required. Your doctor will prescribe medicine. If medicine does not take effect, in some cases, angioplasty or surgery may be necessary for Peripheral Artery Disease Treatment.

Citation

Coronary_artery_disease

Cerebrovascular_disease

What is the relationship between Diabetes and Heart Disease?

My father often asks me, “What is the relationship between diabetes and heart disease?” He asks this question because he is a diabetic patient. He is worried about whether he is going to have heart disease or not. In fact, anyone with diabetes may be in the risk of having heart disease. There is a deep relationship between diabetes and heart disease. This article is about how diabetes relates to heart disease. From this article, you will learn: “How does diabetes cause heart disease?”

What do diabetes and heart disease mean?

Diabetes is an incurable disease. When you are in confusion, you are in the difficulties, i.e. your body doesn’t produce any or enough insulin causing an excess of sugar in the bloodstream. The excess sugar in the bloodstream may associate with heart disease. According to www.heart.org, heart disease includes numerous problems; most of them are related to a process called atherosclerosis. In this condition, a substance called plaque builds up in the walls of the arteries hampering blood flow that can cause heart disease – heart attack, chest pain (angina), etc. A plaque or blood clot may be formed due to high level of cholesterol in the bloodstream. In other words, if the plaque is formed, it narrows the artery making it harder for blood to flow through it. It can stop the blood flow which can cause heart disease –the heart attack, chest pain (angina), etc.

Key relationship between diabetes and heart disease:

Diabetes has a key relationship with heart disease. It is generally seen that people with diabetes tend to develop heart disease at a younger age than people without diabetes. In addition to this fact, in adults with diabetes, the most common causes of death are heart disease and stroke. In reality, the relationship between diabetes and heart disease begins with high blood sugar levels. Moreover, you have both the high blood pressure (hypertension) and the diabetes, you have a great risk of having heart disease. According to www.bloodpressureuk.org, about 25% of people with Type 1 diabetes and 80% of people with Type 2 diabetes have high blood pressure. As you have diabetes, you are more likely to have high blood fat levels.

How does diabetes cause heart disease?

My father also asks me a question, “How does diabetes cause heart disease?” I tell him that research has proved it that the most common cause of heart disease is seen in a person with diabetes who faces the hardening of coronary arteries. In this case, the main reason of having heart disease is building up of cholesterol in the blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrition to the heart. But the alarming fact is that the cholesterol can combine with fat, calcium, and other substances in the blood to form a plaque. This plaque slowly builds up and hardens in the arteries causing them to narrow. Building up of such cholesterol generally begins before the increase in blood sugars that occurs in type 2 diabetes. So, it is clear that the most heart diseases establish themselves prior to the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes

Another alarming fact I want to let you know is that if the cholesterol plaque breaks apart or rupture, the body tries to repair the plaque rupture by sending platelets to seal it up.  As invented by researchers that platelets are tiny blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding. As the artery is small, the gathered platelets can sometimes block the flow of blood, not allowing for oxygen delivery and a heart attack develops. For remembrance, this process can happen not only in all of the arteries, but also resulting in lack of blood to the brain, causing a stroke or lack of blood to the arms, hands, or feet causing a Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD).

However, from this article, you have now got a lot of ideas about the relationship between diabetes and heart disease. The excess sugar in the bloodstream causes to have diabetes that may associate with heart disease.  Anyone with diabetes may be in the risk of having heart disease that refers to various types of conditions that can affect your heart function.  Such as heart attack, chest pain (angina), etc. In fact, the relationship between diabetes and heart disease begins with high blood sugar levels.

Coronary Artery Disease Treatment!

Coronary Arteries are liable for Coronary Artery Disease. In other words, coronary artery disease causes due to problems of in Coronary Arteries. You know that every organ or tissue in your body needs oxygen-rich blood to survive. The heart is a vital organ of your body. Heart muscle needs oxygen-rich blood for keeping its functionality. Blood is supplied to your heart through coronary circulation. The aorta is the main blood supplier to your body. It branches off into two main coronary blood vessels which are called coronary arteries. Coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the entire heart muscle to keep the heart’s functionality.

The 2 main coronary arteries are the Left coronary artery (LMCA) and Right coronary artery (RCA). The left coronary artery is branched into the left anterior descending artery and the circumflex artery. The left coronary artery supplies blood to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body. The right coronary artery supplies blood mainly to the right side of the heart. The right side of the heart pumps blood only to the lungs.

What Is Coronary Artery Disease?

The coronary arteries cause artery diseases. The arteries can get plaque on their inner walls. This plaque makes arteries rigid and narrowed which inhibits blood supply to the heart. When this fact inhibits blood supply to your heart, the heart can then be starved of oxygen. The WebMD warns that the plaque could rupture leading to a heart attack or sudden cardiac death.

Coronary artery disease causes:

As per Mayo Clinic who has shown that coronary artery disease is thought to begin with the damage or injury to the inner layer of a coronary artery. The damage or injury to the inner layer of a coronary artery may occur due to various factors which include:

• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Diabetes or insulin resistance
• Sedentary lifestyle

If the inner wall of an artery is damaged, fatty deposits called plaques, which are made of cholesterol and other cellular waste products, accumulate at the site of injury. This process is called atherosclerosis. Whenever the surface of the plaque breaks or ruptures, blood platelets clump at the site to try to repair the artery. If so, this clump can block the artery, leading to a heart attack.

Coronary artery disease risk factors:

Mayo Clinic has suggested some risk factors for coronary artery disease which are given below:

• Age. Simply getting older increases your risk of damaged and narrowed arteries.
• Sex. Male are generally at greater risk of coronary artery disease. The risk for female increases after menopause.
• Family history. Your risk is highest if your father or a brother was diagnosed with heart disease before age 55 or if your mother or a sister developed it before age 65.
• Smoking. People who smoke have a significantly increased risk of heart disease. Exposing others to your secondhand smoke also increases their risk of coronary artery disease.
• High blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can result in hardening and thickening of your arteries, narrowing the channel through which blood can flow.
• High blood cholesterol levels. High levels of cholesterol in your blood can increase the risk of formation of plaques and atherosclerosis. High cholesterol can be caused by a high level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), known as the “bad” cholesterol. A low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), known as the “good” cholesterol, can be a sign of atherosclerosis.
• Diabetes. Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease. Type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease share similar risk factors, such as obesity and high blood pressure.
• Overweight or obesity. Excess weight typically worsens other risk factors.
• Physical inactivity. Lack of exercise is also associated with coronary artery disease and some of its risk factors.
• High stress. Unrelieved stress in your life may damage your arteries as well as worsen other risk factors for coronary artery disease.

Coronary artery disease treatment:

You understand that if the inner wall of an artery is damaged, plaques accumulate at the site of injury. This process is called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis treatment can be either of a preventive or a permanent remedy of coronary artery disease.

Prevention:

It will be wise if you can avoid risk factors for coronary artery disease. If the established risk factors can be avoided, up to 90% of cardiovascular disease is preventable. Smoking cessation and diet restrictions can prevent cardiovascular disease. A controlled exercise program combats atherosclerosis by improving circulation and functionality of the vessels. It will be wise to take exercise as preventive measure for coronary artery disease. There are evidences that changes in diet may help prevent the development of atherosclerosis. Some diet that contain dairy products usually occurs with a better diet overall and either has no effect on or decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Also other diet high in fruits and vegetables decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

Treatment:

Preventive measures are considered non-pharmaceutical means which are usually the first method of treatment. For example, stopping smoking and practicing regular exercise are the best. If these methods do not work, the medicines are usually the next step in treating cardiovascular diseases.

Statins:

Statins are a class of lipid-lowering medications. It is also known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. These statins have benefits in reducing cardiovascular disease and mortality in those who have high cholesterol. Statins have very few side effects. Muscle pain, increased risk of diabetes mellitus, and abnormalities in liver enzyme tests are side effects of statins. However, they inhibit the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. This enzyme plays a central role in the production of cholesterol which has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). A number of statins are on the market: atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pitavastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin. Due to patent expirations, several statins became available in 2016 as less expensive generics.

Surgery:

In some case of atherosclerosis, surgery may be required. Surgery is required if atherosclerosis become severe and caused irreversible ischemia, such as tissue loss in the case of peripheral artery disease. Through vascular bypass surgery regular blood flow can be re-established. Angioplasty with or without stenting reopen narrowed arteries and improve bloodflow. The most importance thing is to be mentioned — coronary artery bypass grafting without manipulation of the ascending aorta has demonstrated reduced rates of postoperative stroke and mortality compared to traditional on-pump coronary revascularization.

Other:

There is evidence that some anticoagulants, particularly warfarin, which inhibit clot formation by interfering with Vitamin K metabolism, may actually promote arterial calcification in the long term despite reducing clot formation in the short term.

Diet For Heart Health

If you can change your dieting habits according to your health requires, and so your lifestyle according to healthy style, then these changing will be the best weapon to fight with cardiovascular diseases like heart attack, stroke, etc. It will be heart healthy. One thing is to be always remembered that you should use up at least as many calories as you take in. This will help you maintain your weight. Don’t eat more calories than you know you can burn up every day. So you should increase the amount and intensity of your physical activity to match the number of calories you take in. Regular physical activity can help you maintain your weight, keep off weight that you lose and help you reach physical and cardiovascular fitness. Eating a healthy, balanced diet plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy weight, which is the important part of overall good health. Eating good food and regular physical activity are basement for maintaining good health. It will be ominous if you have no time for healthy eating, you will sooner or later have to find time for illness. So be careful of eating good food and keeping regular physical activities.

Heart healthy diet

Eating certain foods can increase your heart disease risk. As such, your eating habits are to be considered to change. It may be you have years of unhealthy eating habits that may tremendously affect on your heart health. You should indulge on heart healthy diet which will keep you always in happy mood. If you know which foods to eat more of and which foods to limit, you will be on your way toward a heart-healthy diet.

Vegetables and fruits are good for heart health because of the low in calories and they are rich in dietary fiber. Vegetables and fruits are good sources of vitamins and minerals. Experts say that Vegetables and fruits contain substances found in plants that help prevent heart diseases. Eating more fruits and vegetables will help you eat less high-fat foods like meat, cheese and snack foods.

Whole grains for heart health – whole grains are good sources of fiber and other nutrients. Whole grains play a role in regulating blood pressure and heart health. As you are very concern of your heart health, you should be concern to eat whole grains for keeping healthy heart. Brown rice, whole-wheat bread, pasta or crackers etc. are common whole grains.

Limit unhealthy fats:

Limiting how much saturated and trans fats you eat is an important step to reduce your blood cholesterol and lower your risk of coronary artery disease. A high blood cholesterol level can lead to a buildup of plaques in your arteries, called atherosclerosis, which can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Eggs are not harmful to heart health:

Excessive is very bad. Eating excessively is always harmful for health. For example, eggs are nutritious foods and therefore it is good to eat eggs as part of a healthy diet. Eating upto 6 eggs a week is not harmful for heart health. As eggs contain good quality protein, 11 vitamins and minerals, and are a source of healthy fats including omega-3 fats, you should eat them regularly. About 5g of fat can be found in an egg. Most of these fats are unsaturated. You need this fat to be healthy.  An egg contains only about 1.5g of saturated fat and no trans fat.

Cholesterol in eggs – you should not be worried about eating eggs because cholesterol in eggs has almost no effect on your blood cholesterol levels. The saturated and trans fat you eat have great influence on your cholesterol levels. Many people always think about eating cholesterol in their diet and its effect on their blood cholesterol level whether it can do any harmful effect on their heart health. It may let them think about the aftermath of eating eggs. If you eat food containing cholesterol, your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels rise more than other people. So you should not be worried about eating eggs as cholesterol in eggs has almost no effect on your blood cholesterol levels.

Citation:

mayoclinic.org

What is type 2 diabetes and what is the treatment?

Diabetes is an incurable disease. It occurs if your body doesn’t produce any or enough insulin leading to an excess of sugar in the bloodstream. There are three major types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes. All of these have something in common. It is ominous that type 2 diabetes and heart disease have a close relation which is life-threatening. I will provide here in the article some crucial information about what the type 2 diabetes is, what causes type 2 diabetes, type 2 diabetes symptoms, and the treatment.

What is type 2 diabetes?

If someone has insulin resistance, there is a greater possibility of having type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance means if cells of your body fail to respond to the insulin, it indicates you have insulin resistance. For better understanding, if you are suffering from insulin resistance, your muscle, fat, and liver cells can’t absorb glucose from the bloodstream. In this case, your body requires higher levels of insulin. The beta cells of your pancreas always try to keep up with the increased demand of insulin, and therefore produce more insulin to keep blood glucose levels in normal. But there may raise a problem if your body, specially your muscle, fat, and liver cells can’t absorb glucose from the bloodstream and glucose builds up in the bloodstream, it is generally the type 2 diabetes symptoms. This diabetes is also called the insulin resistance type 2 diabetes.

Actually, type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition because your body becomes resistant to the normal effects of insulin for long time and gradually loses its capability of producing enough insulin in the pancreas. It is difficult to exactly say what causes type 2 diabetes. This condition is associated with modifiable lifestyle risk factors. It has strong genetic and family related risk factors too.

What causes type 2 diabetes?

It is a general view of the experts that the type 2 diabetes has various causes but genetic and lifestyle as discussed earlier are the most important ones. In combination of these factors, genetics and lifestyle, insulin resistance occurs, which means your body doesn’t use insulin as well as it should. So, insulin resistance is the most common cause of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes can also be hereditary.

What are symptoms of type 2 diabetes?

It was already mentioned that type 2 diabetes can cause cardiovascular diseases which is life-threatening. So it is very important to learn how to detect symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Just for reminding you again that like type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes can also increase your risk of cardiovascular diseases. So you should consult with your doctor to take a preventive measure to keep type 2 diabetes far away if you observe some of the type 2 diabetes symptoms in you. As type 2 diabetes can increase risk of life-threatening diseases, you should learn about what are the symptoms of type 2 diabetes to take preventive initiatives. If you are having high blood sugar, which indicates type 2 diabetes, you may notice the following symptoms of type 2 diabetes:

• Dry mouth
• Headaches
• Blurred vision
• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Fatigue (weak, tired feeling)
• Increased hunger (especially after eating)
• Recurrent infections, including thrush infections
• Unexplained weight loss (even though you are eating and feel hungry)

Diabetes and cardiovascular disease:

Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have very close relation. So the type 2 diabetes and heart disease are called the life-threatening diseases. Where there is diabetes, there is very possibility of having cardiovascular diseases. Woman who has diabetes have a greater risk of having heart diseases compared to those of similar age who does not have diabetes. It is usually seen that heart attack and stroke are the most frequent causes of death in both men and women who have diabetes. It is ominous that the incidence of diabetes is gradually increasing, the number of new cases of heart disease and cardiovascular complexity is increasing accordingly. It is unfortunate that in patients with diabetes improvement in survival after a heart attack has been less comparing to general patients.

Treatment of type 2 diabetes:

As type 2 diabetes is closely associated with high glucose level and excess weight gain, the main target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes is to help control blood glucose level, and another is to help with weight loss or weight management. Keep blood sugar level under control, and it will keep you far away from cardiovascular diseases. You can keep both the glucose level and excess weight gaining under control through practicing regular exercise. Type 2 diabetes can also be treated by a number of other means: changing lifestyle tablet medications, injections, bariatric (weight loss) surgery etc. You should consult with a doctor if you are already a type 2 diabetes patient or a pre-diabetes patient. Doctors always advise those with type 2 diabetes to change their lifestyles in order to take a control over the excess weight and blood glucose levels.

In conclusion, it can be said if you keep your blood glucose levels and excess weight gain under control, then you are quite safe from getting type 2 diabetes and consequent cardiovascular diseases. If you feel any symptoms of type 2 diabetes in you, it will be better to take the best treatment of type 2 diabetes keeping both the glucose level and gaining excess weight under control through practicing regular exercise.

How does sugar cause heart disease?

Consumption of excessive sugar can cause weight gain. Weight gain is associated with high insulin levels which can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes. Insulin resistance and diabetes can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Different researches have shown that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages can raise blood pressure. Not only drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, but also consuming high-sugar diet can stimulate the liver to dump more harmful fats into the bloodstream. Both these factors (either drinking sugar-sweetened beverages or consuming high-sugar diet) are liable for increasing heart disease risk.

Relation between weight gain and heart disease:

There is a close relation between weight gain and heart disease. Consumption of excessive sugar can cause weight gain. When you are overweight or obese, you have a great risk of developing coronary heart disease. Particularly, added sugar is much liable for heart disease.

Other effects of excess weight gain:

Though it is a fact that excess weight gain causes heart disease, it is also associated with other facts which can:

• raise your blood cholesterol levels
• increase your blood pressure
• increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

All these risk factors are also associated with coronary heart disease. So your excess weight can have a great impact on your long-term health. If you think that you don’t have any of these conditions, you should not be indifferent to keep a healthy weight. You should remember that overweight or obese indicates that you are more likely to develop heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and depression. .

Obesity:

It is very fearful fact that overeating will result obesity. A man having obesity can have excess weight which is a symptom of other diseases. Generally obesity indicates you are having too much body fat. Overweight, on the other hand, means weighing too much. The weight may come from fat, muscle, bone, and/or body water.

Sugar and obesity:

Your body gets energy from food or drink that you consume. If food intake or drinking is greater that energy expenditure, it causes obesity. Food and drink produce glucose which is transformed into energy and used by your body through metabolism or physical activities/exercise. Sugar consumption, especially from sugary drinks, is the contributor of unhealthy weight gain and obesity. Fructose in liquid form is worse! Fructose is a part of “sugar.” It is metabolized by the liver. With repeated exposures, it causes Steatosis (fatty liver), insulin resistance, excessive fat storage. This is called metabolic syndrome, and is precondition of heart disease. Having metabolic syndrome, glucose remain un-utilized producing no energy. Your brain is tricked into believing your body is starving. Hence, you eat more and exercise less, and it contributes obesity. Fructose is added to various beverages such as soda and fruit-flavored drinks. It is more fat-producing, than glucose. Unlike glucose, too, it does not cause insulin to be released or stimulate production of leptin. These factors raise concerns about chronically high intakes of dietary fructose, because it appears to behave more like fat in the body (so fructose is liable for obese) than like other carbohydrates. The metabolism of fructose results in increases in serum uric acid concentration. Elevated serum uric acid is a good predictor for the development of obesity and hypertension.

Natural Sugar and Added Sugar:

Your body gets energy from food and drink that you consume. There is a difference between natural sugar and added sugar. Foods contain sugar called natural sugar which turns into energy as well. Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages during processing or preparing foods to make them sweetened. According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans², added sugars seen on ingredient labels that include brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, and sucrose. There is crucial relation between sugar and obesity. A study by Elyse Powell, Royster Fellow at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has shown, “Added sugars increase excess energy and reduce nutrient density in our diets, often contributing to weight gain and obesity.” As American Heart Association says, “Obese puts you at a higher risk for health problems like heart disease,” prevention of obesity is a must to prevent heart disease.

As there is a relation between weight gain and heart disease, less consumption of sugar can get you rid of having weight gain as well as developing risk of heart disease. You learned here the crucial relation between sugar and obesity. As obese puts you at a risk for health problems like heart disease, prevention of obesity is a must to prevent heart disease as well.

About congestive heart failure and heart failure treatment

Heart disease or cardiovascular disease indicates the conditions that include narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a chest pain, then to a heart attack or stroke. There may be other heart conditions that affect your heart’s muscle, valves or heart rhythm. This conditions are also considered forms of heart disease.

Heart failure:

If your heart muscle can’t pump blood as it requires, it indicates heart failure, sometime known as congestive heart failure. This may happen when there are narrowed arteries in your heart or high blood pressure, it will leave your heart too weak or stiff to fill and pump efficiently.

All of these conditions that lead to heart failure can’t be reversed, but in many cases, heart failure treatment can improve the signs and symptoms of heart failure and help you live longer. If you can change your lifestyle, such as regular exercising, reducing salt in your diet, stress management and losing weight etc. these will improve your quality of life.

Heart failure symptoms:

If your heart muscle can’t pump blood as it requires, it indicates heart failure, sometime known as congestive heart failure. This can happen when there are narrowed arteries in your heart or high blood pressure, it will leave your heart too weak or stiff to fill and pump efficiently. If anyone has possibility of heart failure, following symptoms of heart failure can be observed:

• Rapid or irregular heartbeat.
• Shortness of breath (dyspnea) when you exert yourself or when you lie down.
• Fatigue and weakness.
• Swelling (edema) in your legs, ankles and feet.
• Reduced ability to exercise.
• Persistent cough or wheezing with white or pink blood-tinged phlegm.
• swelling (particularly in the lower parts of the body);
• shortness of breath is another common symptom of congestive heart failure that occurs due to fluid buildup in the lungs; and
• fatigue and a decreased capacity to exercise are other symptoms that commonly result from heart failure.

Symptoms of congestive heart failure can’t be apparent in the early stage; these symptoms may develop only after the condition has progressed over time.

Why is it called congestive heart failure?

When your heart muscle isn’t pumping enough blood to the rest of your body, it is one of the symptoms of congestive heart failure which will ultimately make you have heart failure. Since the heart isn’t pumping blood as it should, fluids can start to build up. It is called congestion. For this reason, such condition is called congestive heart failure.

Congestive heart failure stages:

Once a diagnosis of heart failure is established, evaluation of heart failure is important. Providing a complete and accurate history of symptoms is essential. Two major groups have established various stages of congestive heart failure.

The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association stages patients according to the progression of their heart failure. The congestive heart failure stages are as follows:

• Stage A: High risk for developing heart failure
  • Patient has one or more risk factors for developing heart failure.
• Stage B: Asymptomatic heart failure
  • This stage includes patients who have an enlarged or dysfunctional left ventricle from any cause, but are asymptomatic.
• Stage C: Symptomatic heart failure
  • Patient experiences heart failure symptoms — shortness of breath, fatigue, inability to exercise, etc.
• Stage D: Refractory end-stage heart failure
  • Patient has heart failure symptoms at rest in spite of medical treatment.
  • Cardiac transplantation, mechanical devices, more aggressive medical therapy, or end-of-life care may be necessary.

The New York Heart Association classifies patients based on their physical limitations. Classifications are as follows:

• Class I: No limitations of physical activity, no symptoms with ordinary activities
• Class II: Slight limitation, symptoms with ordinary activities
• Class III: Marked limitation, symptoms with less than ordinary activities
• Class IV: Severe limitation, symptoms of heart failure at rest

Congestive heart failure treatment:

Among other chronic diseases, heart failure is one that requires lifelong management. There are different symptoms of congestive heart failure. With the heart failure treatment, different symptoms of heart failure can be improved. As a result, your heart becomes stronger than earlier. It is seen that taking heart failure treatment, you may live long life.

If you go to doctors, they can correct your ensuing heart failure by treating the real cause of the symptoms of heart failure. For example, repairing a heart valve or controlling a fast heart rhythm may reverse heart failure. But for most people, the treatment of heart failure involves a balance of the right medications and, in some cases, use of devices that help the heart beat and contract properly.

Prevention is better than cure. The best way to prevent heart failure is to control conditions that cause heart failure, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.  If you can change your lifestyle, such as regular exercising, reducing salt in your diet, stress management and losing weight etc. these will improve your quality of life.

What are Cholesterol Functions in the body?

There are many substances created by the body and those substances are used by your body to keep you healthy. Cholesterol is one of these substances. You may have a dreadful propensity for this cholesterol because you are unaware of the facts of the “high and low cholesterol levels.” In fact, cholesterol itself is not bad if you can keep your body cholesterol level in balance.

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is an essential structural component of all animal cell membranes; it maintains the membrane structural integrity and fluidity. Cholesterol enables animal cells to dispense with a cell wall, thereby allowing animal cells to change shape and animals to move. Not only for maintaining the cell structure, cholesterol is also used for the biosynthesis of steroid hormones and bile acids which are very essential to lead healthy life.

Cholesterol functions

What are cholesterol functions in your body? You may have generally this question. Cholesterol plays an important role in the human body when there is a normal cholesterol level in your body. www.newhealthguide.org has clearly shown the cholesterol functions as below:

• Hormone production: Cholesterol plays a role in producing hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, aldosterone and cortisone.
• Vitamin D production: Vitamin D is produced when the sun’s ultraviolet rays reach the human skin surface.
• Bile production: Cholesterol produces bile acids which aid in digestion and vitamin absorption.
• Cell membrane support: Cholesterol plays very important role in both the creation and maintenance of human cell membrane.

Cholesterol diets:

Cholesterol is supplied to your body from two sources which are your body itself and food. All cholesterol of your body are supplied by your body itself and they are circulated through the blood. You have to maintain cholesterol diet to maintain the body cholesterol level. Your liver produces more cholesterol when you eat a diet high in saturated and trans fats. But you are healthy when there is a normal cholesterol level in the body. All animal cells produce cholesterol. Since all animal bodies produce cholesterol, all animal-based foods contain cholesterol. Major dietary sources of cholesterol include cheese, egg, egg yolks, beef, pork, poultry, fish and shrimp.

Why should keep your body cholesterol levels in normal?

If your body can’t use all cholesterol produced by body cells, then the excess cholesterol form plaque between layers of artery walls. This plaque makes the arteries hard, and your heart can’t circulate blood though the body. Plaque causes blood clots which block the blood circulation. When a clot blocks an artery which sends blood to the brain, it causes a stroke. When a clot blocks an artery which sends blood to the heart, it causes a heart attack.

Result of high level cholesterol or low level cholesterol:

Your body has two levels of cholesterol which are “high level cholesterol and low level cholesterol.” Both the high and low cholesterol levels may be harmful for you. It means you may have either high level cholesterol or low level cholesterol; both can put you at risk for coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke. What is the level of cholesterol in your blood is to be determined. It will help your doctor determine the best strategy to lower your risk. Take help to know your body cholesterol level here http://www.cholesterolmenu.com.

The good cholesterol and bad cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fat, a type of lipid molecule [in biology, lipid includes fat, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamin (A, D, E, and K), monoglyceride, diglyceride, triglyceride, phospholipid]. Cholesterol (fat) is not dissolved in the blood. It must be transported through your bloodstream by proteins. When fat (lipid) combines with the proteins, it is called lipoproteins (lipid+protein). There are mainly two types of lipoproteins that carry cholesterol to and from cells – Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and High-density lipoprotein (HDL).

LDL (Bad) Cholesterol: LDL cholesterol is called the “bad” cholesterol. It builds up plaques in the walls of your arteries making them hard and narrow. It can clog arteries and make them less flexible. When a clot forms and blocks any artery, heart attack or stroke may result. There is another condition which is called Peripheral Artery Disease. It can develop if plaque buildup narrows the artery that supplies blood to the legs or arms.

HDL (Good) Cholesterol: HDL cholesterol is called “good” cholesterol. It removes bad cholesterol from the arteries. HDL is said to be a scavenger that picks up excess cholesterol and takes it back to your liver, where it is broken down and passed from the body. While high levels of HDL cholesterol protect you from heart attack or stroke, low levels of HDL cholesterol can increase the risk of heart disease. So it is desirable to have a higher HDL cholesterol level. Such as, HDL levels above 60 mg/dl reduce the risk of heart disease.

From the above discussion, you understand “what is cholesterol?” and “what are cholesterol functions?”. You also understand here how you can keep fit yourself if there is normal cholesterol level in body. These understanding will help you become aware of the facts which generally lead heart attack or stroke, and other peripheral arterial diseases as well.

A brief advice: Exercise increases the HDL cholesterol that can lower the LDL cholesterol levels. Maintaining the cholesterol diet and increasing exercise, you can keep your body cholesterol levels in balanced.