The Atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death in the Western world, is the loss of elasticity of arterial walls.

This process occurs gradually and is caused mainly by accumulation of fatty plaques within them. These plates, called atheroma, committed to the elasticity of stiffening the walls of arteries, and also decrease their sizes. Arteriosclerosis is a general term that covers several diseases in which the arterial walls become thicker and lose their elasticity because of deposits of lipid material. These diseases, the most common are atherosclerosis.

Causes:
They are considered part of the risk group of males, aged between 50 and 70 years, individuals with high cholesterol, obesity, smoking, hypertension, and sedentary people with a family prone to disease. Lipid material, cholesterol, cellular debris, fibrin (a protein involved in coagulation), platelets and calcium are accumulated in the inner membrane that lines the arteries. This can occur by:
# High levels of cholesterol and triglycerides
# Hypertension
# Exposure to components of cigarette smoke

Symptoms:
Among the factors known to favor the development of atherosclerosis and diseases caused by this condition are: age, sex of the person, heredity, sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, smoking, use of some medications, the tensions of life and diet.

It is not evident until the occurrence of complications such as obstruction of the coronary arteries that feed the heart can produce chest pain and possible myocardial infarction. When the lack of irrigation affects the brain, there may be a stroke. When blood flow is obstructed and does not take sufficient amount of oxygen to the legs, cramps may appear. These symptoms gradually increased to the extent that the lumen of the vessel decreases.

Factors May Be Changed Or Corrected:
The diet factor is a participant in the development of degeneration of the arteries. The dietetic cares are important from the early years of a person's life as it is in childhood that we create our eating habits.

What is considered healthy?

Basically, the food is made up of proteins, fats and sugars. These elements are found in different proportions in almost all foods, from fruits, grains, vegetables, meat, milk, etc... In these three basic groups, there are healthier and less healthy.

Among the main sources of protein are milk and dairy products, meat and eggs. Are recommended for skim milk contain less calories and less fat. Among dairy products, it is preferable to choose low-fat cheeses, white, for yellow and cream often contain more fat.

Among the meats, the most recommended is the fish. The others, such as cattle, poultry and pork are also indispensable as sources of protein, but we always prefer the lean to fat, avoiding, for example, skin of poultry.

The other important and cheap source of protein in egg white. The egg yolk is condemned by some, already by others do not.

Fats that are recommended to avoid are those subjected to high temperatures, as happens during the frying.

It is advisable for unsaturated fats, like olive oil, granola, sunflower, corn or soybeans, in that order, according to some authors. We can see that this sequence involves monies.

There are the carbohydrates or sugars of various kinds, which are obtained from different sources. Some are considered more and others less so. Considered more harmful industrial sugars, refined and are most recommended those from fruits and vegetables not industrialized. The main source of carbohydrates for humans comes from grains such as rice, wheat, oats, etc. The starch by action of saliva, is transformed into sugar, so it is known that the bread, cakes, biscuits, the cooks, the cookies are basically sugar. As proof, just let a piece of bread or biscuit, salt and even for a few minutes to pieces in the mouth without swallowing, we can see that gradually will become increasingly sweet.

Secondly, cholesterol is very necessary for a person to be healthy. Hormones, cell membranes, components of the bile and skin need cholesterol for their formation, therefore, need to have cholesterol in our body to have health. The problems caused by high cholesterol levels may arise or be exacerbated if we have other factors involved in the formation of atherosclerosis.

The factors involved in the genesis of atherosclerosis factors, we may change or correct some, and others have not. We can stop smoking, correcting high blood pressure, lose weight, maintain a regular physical activity, avoiding certain medications, and correct diabetes. In contrast, age and sex we can not change. We can mitigate the influence of heredity, but we inherited from our ancestors is recorded in our genes. Even without changing the family heritage, can intervene to ensure that this does not manifest itself in all its potential. The first step is whether we have a genetic predisposition to degenerative diseases resulting from arteriosclerosis. If we have, we must act with more energy trying to mitigate the negative effects of other risk factors involved in the genesis of this degeneration of the arteries.