How can plaque build up in your blood vessels? & bull; hello healthy

For patients with high blood pressure, a doctor often gives advice to regulate the consumption of fatty foods, namely reduce bad fats and add good fats. But, what exactly are bad fats and good fats? What's the difference? Then how does the fat we consume become plaque in the blood vessels? Come on, let's see!

Get to know lipoproteins

Cholesterol is fat that does not dissolve in water, so that in the blood, fat will be bound by protein so that the fat can dissolve in water. These proteins are known as lipoproteins. Fat that binds to lipoproteins has a role in causing plaque in blood vessels.

Lipoproteins can be divided into "bad" and "good". Which includes the bad lipoproteins are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) which contains more fat than protein. Conversely, which includes lipoproteins are good high-density lipoprotein (HDL) which has more protein content.

Bad vs good lipoproteins

LDL and VLDL are called bad lipoproteins because they have a role in carrying cholesterol into the walls of blood vessels, which triggers plaque. The higher the LDL and VLDL levels, the risk for blood vessel plaque will increase.

Conversely, HDL as a good lipoprotein will remove cholesterol from the walls of blood vessels and bring it to the liver for disposal later, thereby protecting blood vessels from forming plaque. The higher the HDL level, the lower the risk of plaque occurrence. In addition, it turns out that HDL has an anti-inflammatory effect, thereby reducing the risk of plaque formation.

The process of forming plaque in blood vessels

The presence of injury to the blood vessels is the beginning of plaque formation. Some of the things that can cause injury to blood vessels are free radicals, high blood pressure, bacteria, and viruses. Injury to blood vessels triggers inflammation which, if it occurs continuously over a long period of time, will lead to the formation of plaque.

The process of forming blood vessel plaque begins with a buildup of LDL cholesterol in the walls of the blood vessels. The more that accumulates, the LDL cholesterol will be oxidized by free radicals. This oxidized LDL actually causes irritation of the walls of blood vessels, triggering an inflammatory response.

One of the inflammatory cells that plays a role is monocytes. Monocytes enter the walls of blood vessels and turn into macrophages which have the function of "eating" oxidized LDL cholesterol. These macrophages will continue to "eat" LDL cholesterol and when viewed with a microscope, macrophages will look like "foamy", therefore in the end macrophages will be referred to as foam cell .

Set foam cell this can be seen without a microscope shaped like a yellow mass attached to the walls of blood vessels known as fatty streak. Fatty streak this is an early picture of vascular plaque.

Foam cell will continue to form if the inflammatory process occurs repeatedly until one day foam cell will accumulate in the walls of blood vessels which triggers the migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Smooth muscle cells will migrate from the tunica media towards the tunica intima stacked with clusters foam cell .

In this new place, muscle cells undergo division and increase in number and increase in size. Cholesterol buildup and smooth muscle covering it will form mature plaques. If the above process continues, mature plaque will increasingly accumulate and protrude towards the blood vessel channels and narrow the diameter of the blood vessels.

Blood vessels with thick plaque are also more prone to damage, besides that it is also easier for calcium to accumulate so that blood vessels become hard and inelastic, which can lead to high blood pressure.

Conclusion

Fat does have the impression that it is not good for our health, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't consume it at all. We must adjust the proportion of fat consumption by increasing good fats and avoiding bad fats. Recognize what foods contain good fats and bad fats so that your blood vessels do not quickly form blood vessel plaque.