Effects of Poor Diet and Obesity on Heart Essay

A good diet consists of consuming a full range of all the various nutrients needed for proper function of the body and bodily systems. When someone consumes the correct nutrients in the correct proportions, they are considered to have a â€Å"Balanced Diet†. However, when someone is not consuming the correct nutrients or not consuming the correct amount of nutrients they are said to have a poor diet or â€Å"malnutrition†. Malnutrition is often misconceived to be just the lack of nutrients in the body causing illness and Anorexia; however this is in fact incorrect as malnutrition can also be defined as the excessive consuming of nutrients which contain more energy than the body uses. This is most commonly known as â€Å"Obesity†. In Britain and most first world countries, obesity is one of the most serious effects of malnutrition. It can be extremely dangerous due to the build up of a certain fat known as â€Å"Adipose Tissue† under the skin and around maj or bodily organs. Someone can usually be defined as being obese if they have a BMI of over 30 (BMI can be calculated by dividing mass in Kg by height in Meters, squared). Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is a common disorder of the blood vessels that supply the heart muscle with oxygenated blood. It is a major cause of death in developed with Reports in the UK suggesting that 3-4% of men aged between 35 and 74 die each year due to the effects of CHD. In the reports for women, the risk appears to be about half of this figure. Each year around 156000 people in England and Wales die from CHD. The heart is used as a pump to pump blood around the body; this is done via the contracting of the hearts muscles. This process needs a continuous supply of oxygen in order to function, however if this oxygen supply is cut off or slowed down the muscle cannot contract and therefore the muscle will soon die. One of the processes that can restrict the amount of oxygen getting to the heart is called â€Å"atherosclerosis† alternatively known as â€Å"Hardening of the Arteries†). This can lead to the coronary arteries to be blocked due to the build up of mater ials inside the artery walls. This causes the amount of space available for the oxygen to pass through the artery to become heavily constricted. Atherosclerosis is a very slowly developing problem and people who contract it normally do not show any signs until they are at least 40 years of age. However in some people, the process can be caused to happen much faster. This is normally due to things such as high blood pressure, the presence of low-density lipoproteins (LDL’s) or even excessive amounts of harmful chemicals in the blood cuased by things such as the excessive consumption of tobacco. Damage from the presence of these substances will build up inside the coronary artery and exist as deposits known as an atheromatous plaque. Once this plaque has restricted the wideness of the lumen by 50% or more, flow of oxygen into the heart muscle will not meet required amounts and will cause a pain to be felt during exercising known as â€Å"angina†. This pain is felt in the left shoulder, chest and arm, but can still be felt in the neck and left side of the face for some people. Another danger from the presence of an atheromatous plaque in the coronary arteries is the danger of a blood clot being formed around the plaque. These blood clots are known as a â€Å"Coronary thrombosis† and are caused by fibrous protein Collagen coming into contact with the platelet which causes the platelet to secrete a chemical that react with the blood and cause a clot to form. These blood clots further slow down the flow of blood through the artery. This could cause the part of the heart receiving the oxygen from this artery to fail in receiving enough blood and therefore shut down or stop the heart from beating altogether. When this happens it is called a â€Å"myocardial infarction†. A myocardial infarction is a very serious condition in which the heart fails to beat. Around 90% of all cases of myocardial infarction are direct effects from the problems aroused by Coronal thrombosis. Myocardial infarctions are potentially fatal if a large amount of muscle is affected. Cardiac arrests are a result of myocardial infarction due to the lack of beating from the heart. During a cardiac arrest, no pulse can be felt on the victim and also the victim will lose consciousness (faint). If the heart is not restarted before the muscle cells starts to die off, then the victim will also die. A reconstruction of the effect an Atheromatous Plaque can have upon the wideness of the Lumen inside a blood vessel (self made image) Cholesterol is an important substance in the structure of cell membranes and we must have a certain amount of it in our body or the liver will produce its own form of cholesterol to be transported and used by cells. However, evidence from tests completed by scientists suggests that having an excessive amount of cholesterol in the blood increases the risk of suffering from CHD. It is still unclear whether or not ones levels of cholesterol in the blood stream can be controlled by ones diet although, data does show that eating large amounts of saturated fats can increase your chance of having a high cholesterol blood content. Excessive cholesterol can be dangerous as it is not soluble in water so therefore it cannot be transported using the blood plasma transportation system. Instead it must be transported around the body in something called â€Å"lipoproteins† which are tiny balls made up of various lipids, cholesterol and proteins. There are many varieties of lipoproteins which are normally categorised into 3 main sub-sections. These sub-sections are defined by the amount of protein they contain (also known as their density) and consist of: High Density Lipoprotein (HDL): High protein content and low lipid content Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL): High Lipid content and lower Protein content Chylomicrons: a very high lipid content and very low protein content HDL’s are usually given the job of picking up cholesterol from around the body and transporting it to the liver. On the other hand, LDL’s are usually given the job of transporting cholesterol from the lover to other parts of the body. LDL’s play a part in the formation of an atheromatous plaque due to the tendency for them to deposit cholesterol into the damaged walls of arteries; in contrast HDL’s seem to actually help in preventing CHD. This is because they remove cholesterol from tissues including those of blood vessel walls. Therefore a person who has a high HDL: LDL ratio in their body would be much better protected against CHD than someone who does not. The structure of a lipoprotein (this one could be a LDL due to its High Lipid content and lower Protein content) (http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D:Structure_of_a_Lipoprotein.jpg) Blood pressure can be defined as the pressure that blood inside vessels applies onto the walls of the vessel in which it is being transported. If a person has an exceptionally high blood pressure, they are said to have â€Å"hypertension†. This increases ones risk to CHD by causing the walls of the arteries to thicken and stiff much like atherosclerosis causes the blood vessels to become hardened. The cause of high blood pressure is not always clear in every case. However scientists have suggested that a high intake of salt or the excessive consumption of lipids may be aiding in the creation of a high blood pressure, this is due to the high water affinity of salt itself which could be drawing in water via osmosis, increasing the volume of blood and therefore pressure upon the blood vessels. High blood pressure is normally combated naturally by the body via the kidneys which would excrete more liquid containing the salt solution; however this process does not always work therefore leading to people with high blood pressure being either advised to just eat a low- salt diet or be given diuretics which will make the kidneys complete the process. In conclusion, It can be seen that both poor diet and obesity can both have a certain effect upon the chances of someone contracting Coronary Heart disease, however it can also be seen that the effects from both of these problems could easily be combated by simply eating a healthier diet containing all of the nutrients needed in the body and also in the correct proportions allowing for a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.