Arteriosclerosis, a Notorious cause of death

Source

To many who are not medically inclined, the term arteriosclerosis may sound like Greek, but in reality, it’s just a bogus term used to define a health condition where blood vessels of an individual are narrow, to an extent that it interferes with the normal flow of blood in the body.

Blood vessels are cylindrical or tube-like structures found in the body, they run from the head, where they supply oxygen and nutrients to the brain and the surrounding tissues, down to the toes where they perform similar functions. Asides from supplying nutrients, the blood vessel collects and transports waste products of cell metabolism, this includes carbon dioxide and urea which is a metabolite/substance derived from the breakdown of proteins and amino acids in the cells.

Byproducts of drugs or food particles are also removed from the tissue’s immediate environment by the blood vessels. To move fluid, pressure must be applied, this is where the pumping action of the heart comes into play. Being a special type of muscle, the heart muscles continues to pump, even after it has been removed from the body, provided that it has access to nutrients and other physiological conditions required for its survival.
Special clusters of cells on the heart muscle known as pacemakers(Sinu-atrial node), generate an independent electrical impulse that gets transmitted throughout the heart causing it to have rhythmical beats. The natural frequency of this pacemaker produces the basal heart rate which is about 60 beats per minute to produce a blood pressure roughly 120mm/hg systolic and 90mm/hg diastolic.

When these numbers go upper than normal a person is said to have high blood pressure, the reverse is the case for lower values. The beat alone cannot produce the blood pressure the heartbeat is measured in beats per minute and is known as heart rate.

Blood pressure is the product of cardiac output and peripheral resistance.

Without boring you with too much math, cardiac output is simply the volume of blood ejected by the heart with every beat.

So how do all these relate to arteriosclerosis?

Well, remember our little equation above, where we defined blood pressure as a product of cardiac output and peripheral resistance, peripheral resistance is simply a measure of how difficult it is for blood to flow through the blood vessels.
By now you should have gotten the point, however, if you haven’t, am here to explain.

If the blood vessels is wide enough, then blood will flow through them with minimal resistance, however, if they become too narrow, blood flow tends to be obstructed, and pressure and turbulence will increase as a result.

So why should we care?

Source

Well in as much as low blood pressure is inimical to health, high blood pressure presents a big risk, it is the most common cause of death in adults.

High blood pressure can lead to internal bleeding, by rupturing fragile capillaries which supply blood to tissues in the body.
Now imagine a situation where the blood supply to the brain is halted, the result is often catastrophic, and either leads to brain death or stroke. Other organs of the body like the kidney and liver may suffer ischemic shock, then fail due to the increasing rate of necrosis/death of their cells.

Causes of Arteriosclerosis

Arteriosclerosis is caused by plagues, these are simply small lumps of debris that get attached to the walls of the blood vessels the space they occupy is the leading cause of vascular narrowing and occlusion. This debris consists of fibrin fibers cholesterol, calcium, and some other components. Often than not, these plagues get dislodged from their primary location in the blood vessel, from where they are carried to the peripheral tissues in form of embolus, where they obstruct nutrient and oxygen supply leading to cell death and organ failure.

Source

The simplest way to control this menace is to reduce the dietary intake of fats and oil. Especially saturated fats. It is better to use vegetable oil for cooking as this contains less cholesterol and saturated fats.

References

• Medical News
• Medlineplus
• NHLBI