Discuss the link of CHD and a high fat diet.

Minjae Seo

  Despite the recent enhancements in medical technology and research, heart diseases still remain as a major cause of death. Heart diseases such as CHDs ,heart stroke, heart failure, coronary artery diseases compose huge portions of death and are concerned as one of the key problems. And yet even now, no technological enhancements are alleviating the situation. This is because of its characteristics; it is a degenerative disease that depends on your daily habits, diets and lifestyle, not on the medicine you are provided.  And thus, there is a clear link between the diet which you obtain and the heart diseases that you have.

  CHD or the coronary heart disease occurs when a waxy substance steadily builds up inside the coronary arteries. When this plague builds up for years and years, the plaque eventually hardens and narrows the coronary arteries causing a condition of atherosclerosis. It may even build up to totally block the artery or it may be ruptured providing a platform for blood to clot. All of these problems block  the coronary arteries or reduce the flow of oxygen-rich blood into the heart (coronary artery), increasing the risk of heart diseases. As the CHD progresses, it weakens your heart and leads to heart failures and arrhythmias.

 The diet plays a crucial role in developing and preventing CHD. Researchers have clearly indicated that there is a strong correlation between abnormal blood lipid levels and the risk of coronary diseases. This is because the different types of fats (saturated fats or trans fat) that increase the level of cholesterol, which is the main substance that creates the plaque and impose risk.

 Usually the liver makes all the cholesterol you need and circulates it through the blood. But when you obtain excess saturated fats and trans fat from animal sources, such as meat, poultry and milk, the cholesterol blood level increases beyond the requirements, and imposes a risk of CHDs. The cholesterol containing saturated fats and trans fat raise the cholesterol blood level, causing atherosclerosis by forming layers of plaques on the wall of the artery. Then it eventually blocks the coronary arteries and the heart malfunctions due to the insufficient supply of oxygen, leading to heart diseases, such as a heart attack.

However, there are some other fats as well. Unsaturated fat, Polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat are in fact, beneficial to our health. But it is still undeniably true that a high fat diet will increase your level of cholesterol; thus, increasing the risk of CHDs as well. According to some researches, “if your total fat intake is greater than 37% of your total calories, then even if that fat is unsaturated you increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Therefore, we can conclude upon the idea that high fat diet has a strongly positive correlation with the risk of CHD. As the fat contents increases, the level of cholesterol increase as well as increasing the risks of CHDs too. Obviously, having a high fat diet or eating too much fat than what is required will contribute towards these diseases. There is surely, a very clear link between CHD and a high fat diet.

Bibliography:
http://www.world-heart-federation.org/cardiovascular-health/cardiovascular-disease-risk-factors/diet/
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/cad
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002436.htm