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Atherosclerosis is a
process of thickening or hardening of the arteries. It happens due to
the deposition of triglycerides and fatty substances in the form of
plaques on the walls of arteries. These plaques bring impairment in
the blood flowing through the arteries.
The condition aggravates with age. It
is more prevalent in men above 45 and women above 55. People with
family history of cardiovascular diseases are much more prone to
atherosclerosis. People suffering from high blood cholesterol, high
blood pressure, tobacco use and smoking, diabetes, obesity and
physical inactivity are under high risk zone.
Medical researches have shown that the
patient will benefit by reducing the risk factors responsible for
atherosclerosis. And this is exactly where the vitamins might play a
major role in combating atherosclerosis. The risk factors involved in
atherosclerosis are the outcome of a certain kind of life styles
which give rise to overweight, high blood pressure, less physical
mobility, diabetes and exposure to tobacco.
Oxidized LDL
cholesterol is said to be one of the major causes for
atherosclerosis. A research done a decade back has suggested that
food containing antioxidant vitamins can reduce the level of LDL
cholesterol and its oxidative properties.
Antioxidant vitamins like Vitamin E,
Vitamin C or a combination of these may play a major role in
inhibiting lipid peroxidation. In addition to this, these antioxidant
vitamins in blood also lessen the risk of coronary artery diseases as
has been emphasized in some of the observational studies. Thus there
are few researches that have examined some kind of linkage between
vitamins and the beginning of the hardening of the arteries.
To investigate the link between
vitamins and atherosclerosis and the extent of the thickening of the
blood vessels, researches tried to assess intima-media thickness and
stenosis among males and females of over 50 and 60. The
investigation showed that the extent of atherosclerosis among males
was more than that among females of better socioeconomic status
having high concentration of beta carotene and vitamin C. Also there
were more vivid linkages between the thickening of arteries and hyper
tension, systolic blood pressure, smoking status, age and LDL
cholesterol level among men, while in women these were just risk
factors.
With decreasing level of vitamins,
carotene thickness of the blood vessels was found to be increasing.
Although the linkages were found only with men, it became obvious
that anti oxidant vitamins may halt the process of atherosclerosis
reducing the risk of heart attack.
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