There are several types of heart disease, but the major ones are the atherosclerosis, coronary, rheumatic, congenital, myocarditis, angina, and arrythmia heart disease. Although it can be deadly, it is also preventable. The most basic and simple ways to prevent heart disease is to exercise regularly, eat heart-healthy diet, maintain healthy weight, avoid smoking, and have regular health screenings. It is never too late for anybody to change lifestyles and practice healthy habits for the betterment ones welfare.

A heart disease is caused by many factors and smoking is one of them. Smoking is very popular when it comes to causing damages to our health. Don’t you agree? Smoking and using any tobacco products are never safe. No amount of tobacco is ever considered safe as well. Cigarette smoking and use of tobacco products are the most preventable causes of deaths around the globe.

The type of heart disease caused by smoking is coronary heart disease. Cigarette and tobacco products users have high risk of developing heart disease caused by smoking that of non smokers. Smokers who have a heart attack are more likely to die within an hour of the heart attack. Doesn’t sounds so scary?

Cigarette and tobacco smoking or any the use of any tobacco products is very rampant. Unfortunately, it increases the risk of coronary disease. All the tobacco products contain thousands of chemicals and nicotine which is very addictive. Nicotine is not only responsible for your bad breath, staining your teeth, but also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after heart bypass operation.

Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance, and increases the tendency for. When the blood clots build up and block the arteries, heart attack will occur. Therefore, it is evidence enough that heart disease caused by smoking is coronary heart disease.

Studies also have shown that the risk of developing heart disease caused by smoking, after five years of giving up this bad habit, is the same as for someone who never smoked! I think this is some good news to smokers who struggle to quit and to those who are thinking of quitting. You have all the right reasons to stop. It’s never too late! Practice a healthy lifestyle and quit smoking in order for you to live longer and heart disease free.

The main symptom of this is pain, poor organ function and bad general condition. The further consequences are tissue damage, occasionally acute damage because by stop of blood flow caused by a sudden blood clot formed in the narrowed areas.

The Mechanisms and Causes of Atherosclerosis

The inner walls of the arteries consist of an innermost layer of endothelial cells (surface cells) and under these a layer of smooth muscle cells. The changes by atherosclerosis take place under the endothelial cells and in this muscle layer. The changes consist of: A certain degree of cell proliferation or tumour, accumulating of cholesterol and fat. Deposition of calcium salts. Deposition of blood elements like fibrin.

The deposits are called atherosclerotic plaque or atheroma. Atherosclerosis is one of many types of artery thickening and hardening. A common name for thickening and hardening of arteries is “arteriosclerosis”. Often atherosclerosis is also just called arteriosclerosis.

The development of atherosclerosis probably begins by a damage in the endothelium. This damage causes cholesterol and fat to penetrate into the vessel walls and deposit there. This also induces cells to proliferate. Later also calcium salts are deposited.

Factors that cause endothelial damage and thus atherosclerosis are :
-High content of cholesterol in the blood.
-High content of blood fat and especially saturated fat.
-Inflammation in the blood vessels. A sign of such inflammation is the presence of a substance called c-reactive protein.
-High amount of oxidation agents in the blood.
-High blood pressure.
-High content of low density lipoprotein (LDL) in the blood serum, and low content of high density lipoprotein (HDL) in the blood. Lipoprotein is a combination of a protein molecule and fat or cholesterol. Lipoproteins carry cholesterol or fat from place to place.
-Diabetes.
-High age.
-Smoking.
-Men have a somewhat higher chance of getting this condition than women.
-High content of the amino acid homocystein in the blood serum.

Many of these factors are ultimately caused by a bad diet and lack of daily exercise.

The Symptoms and Consequences of Atherosclerosis

Since atherosclerosis can affect all body parts, the symptoms will vary. However, general symptoms from the affected body parts are :
-Decreased performance, easy to tire out.
-Pain by physical activity, so called anoxic pain.
-By severe impairment of blood flow, tissue damage or sores can occur.

Once the heart is affected, the symptoms will be :
-General bad condition.
-Anoxic pain from the heart and surroundings by physical activity, called angina pectoris.
-Feeling of not getting enough air, or breathing problems.

Atherosclerosis can cause blood clots that close the blood flow. There are several ways this can occur :

-The atherosclerotic plaque can rupture, making a sore in the inner wall of the vessel. At such a sore blood can coagulate, making a blood clot.
-The atherosclerotic plaque itself can grow to close a blood vessel.
-Blood coagulated at an affected area can tear loose, float with the blood stream to another place and prop a blood vessel at the new place.
-A portion of the plaque itself can tear itself loose and clog some other blood vessel.

Once the heart is stricken by a blood clot, heart tissue is suddenly destroyed, a condition called heart infarction, causing sudden heart failure or death.

Once a blood clot strikes the brain, brain tissue is destroyed or impaired, causing paralysis, decreased consciousness, coma or other sudden functional impairments.

The Prevention and Treatment of Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis can be prevented and to some extend be cured by these measures, of which most are lifestyle adjustments:

-Consuming only a little or moderate amount of fat.
-Consuming only a moderate amount of sugar.
-The fat eaten had better a blending of different types of unsaturated fat from sources like: olive oil, rape oil, sunflower oil, soy oil, walnut oil and fish. And then you’ll get enough of mono-unsaturated fat, omega-3-unsaturated fat, and omega-6-poly-unsaturated fat, but not too much of any of them.
-Consuming a lot fish and only a little red meat.
-Consuming a good amount of fruit and vegetables every day.
-Supply of sufficiency vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.
-Only consuming moderate amount of salt.
-Quit smoking.
-Getting high blood pressure treated if lifestyle measures do not bring blood pressure down.
-Daily exercise fitted for one’s own condition.
-Eliminate stress in the daily life and at the job.
-Stressing down and getting enough rest.

By high cholesterol levels that do not react properly to lifestyle measures, cholesterol lowering medication can be used, such as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors.

By serious local narrowing of an artery, surgery to clean out or widen the artery is sometimes performed. Sometimes the artery is replaced by a graft taken from another body part or by an artificial vessel. When this is done in the heart, it is denoted as bypass surgery.

Alternative treatment to clean out the arteries is an option. There is for instance a treatment consisting of using the substance EDTA to carry constituents of plaque away from the arteries. The molecules of this substance have the ability to grip around other molecules, for instance cholesterol molecules, and carry them away. There is however a controversy about the effectiveness of this treatment, called chelating therapy.