The case for antioxidants is still theoretical and largely
circumstantial, but the scientific and medical communities are staking
high hopes on it. Just last month, more than 40 of the world’s top heart
experts lobbied to support future laboratory research and clinical
trials to further explore the effects of the antioxidants on arteries.
If clinical trials- some in process now, others just beginning- verifying what’s been found under the microscope the number of deaths from heart disease in the world will probably drop. But we can’t exclude the treatment of established risk factors, like high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, high cholesterol and diabetes.
Most of the people who have heart attacks don’t have outrageously inflated cholesterol levels. In fact, some of them are below the 200 range. And there are people who do have high cholesterol counts who have no sign of heart disease, so researchers suspect that there is more to heart disease than cholesterol alone.
Scientific evidence has long hinted that this “something more” may be involve vitamin antioxidants. Heart attack victims have consistently low levels of vitamin C in their blood, as do smokers, who are at higher risk for atherosclerosis.
o Free radicals
Scientists set out to discover the possible connection between antioxidants, cholesterol and heart disease. Their top priority was to figure out how cholesterol, specifically LDL cholesterol, gets into the walls of arteries. This stuff, the fatty streaks that eventually become the advanced lesions that bypass surgery must remove, is the first sign of what could be a heart attack-to-come.
Free radicals are naturally occurring, highly unstable oxygen molecules that have been accused of contributing to everything from cancer to cataracts. Their mean trick is to damage, or oxide, body tissues and blood fats. The free radicals effect on LDL is similar to hat happens to a steak when it sits out on the kitchen counter too long- it goes bad. That, researchers speculate, sets off the deadly process. The white blood cells- immune cells out to consume their enemies- gorge themselves on the bad-stuff-gone-bad, thinking they are protecting the body, when they may actually be harming it. LDL bloated white blood cells in the artery wall soon become a bulge that threatens to completely block the artery.
Enter vitamins in your body
If the creation of free radicals, as scientists believe, is a naturally occurring, constant process, does that mean we are doomed to a life of congested arteries and crippling angina?
Enter the antioxidants-vitamins and enzymes in our bodies that fight oxidant caused by free radicals. Scientists believe that antioxidants may be able to stop free radicals from making LDL “go bad”.
If clinical trials- some in process now, others just beginning- verifying what’s been found under the microscope the number of deaths from heart disease in the world will probably drop. But we can’t exclude the treatment of established risk factors, like high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, high cholesterol and diabetes.
Most of the people who have heart attacks don’t have outrageously inflated cholesterol levels. In fact, some of them are below the 200 range. And there are people who do have high cholesterol counts who have no sign of heart disease, so researchers suspect that there is more to heart disease than cholesterol alone.
Scientific evidence has long hinted that this “something more” may be involve vitamin antioxidants. Heart attack victims have consistently low levels of vitamin C in their blood, as do smokers, who are at higher risk for atherosclerosis.
o Free radicals
Scientists set out to discover the possible connection between antioxidants, cholesterol and heart disease. Their top priority was to figure out how cholesterol, specifically LDL cholesterol, gets into the walls of arteries. This stuff, the fatty streaks that eventually become the advanced lesions that bypass surgery must remove, is the first sign of what could be a heart attack-to-come.
Free radicals are naturally occurring, highly unstable oxygen molecules that have been accused of contributing to everything from cancer to cataracts. Their mean trick is to damage, or oxide, body tissues and blood fats. The free radicals effect on LDL is similar to hat happens to a steak when it sits out on the kitchen counter too long- it goes bad. That, researchers speculate, sets off the deadly process. The white blood cells- immune cells out to consume their enemies- gorge themselves on the bad-stuff-gone-bad, thinking they are protecting the body, when they may actually be harming it. LDL bloated white blood cells in the artery wall soon become a bulge that threatens to completely block the artery.
Enter vitamins in your body
If the creation of free radicals, as scientists believe, is a naturally occurring, constant process, does that mean we are doomed to a life of congested arteries and crippling angina?
Enter the antioxidants-vitamins and enzymes in our bodies that fight oxidant caused by free radicals. Scientists believe that antioxidants may be able to stop free radicals from making LDL “go bad”.
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