Health Effects of Lipids Part1

Dietary lipids have mainly been connected to heart disease which is also referred to as cardiovascular disease.
What is heart disease and how does it develop? What are the major risk factors for heart disease?
One the risk factors for heart disease is the cholesterol level in the blood. Cholesterol exists in our blood in two forms LDL and HDL.and one needs to be extremely concerned about ones LDL cholesterol level. This is because having high LDL cholesterol  greatly increases one risk to heart disease.
What is interesting about LDL is that it's levels can be changed by altering your diet, what is the impact of  the amount of cholesterol in your diet on your blood cholesterol level? What about consumption of saturated and unsaturated fat?
Trans fat have also been called killer fats., they used to be abundant in frying oil, pastries, fast food, certain margarines and many other processed foods.
Another hot topic is Omega-3 fatty acids numerous claims have been made about these fatty acids, particularly in their relation to heart disease.

Cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD, also called heart disease) is a class of diseases that involve the heart and/or the blood vessels. The most common form of cardiovascular disease is coronary heart disease (CHD), in which the coronary arteries – the blood vessels providing blood to the heart muscle - become narrow and rigid, restricting blood flow to the heart. Coronary heart disease is also called ischemic heart disease. Another common form of cardiovascular disease is stroke, in which the arteries supplying blood to the brain become blocked and blood flow is impaired. Cardiovascular diseases are most often rooted in a process called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis describes the build-up of plaque in the walls of arteries, leading to narrowing of the arteries and gradual obstruction of blood flow. Other cardiovascular diseases include heart failure, diseases of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy), heart valve problems, and arrhythmias.

Ischemic heart disease (a.k.a. coronary heart disease, CHD) is the leading cause of death in high income countries, whereas infections are the major cause of death in low income countries. It is believed that differences in abundance of infectious organisms, hygiene, medical care, and diet are responsible for the difference in death rates between high and low income countries.

Rates of coronary heart disease or ischemic heart disease differ greatly between countries. The age-standardised, disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rates from ischemic heart disease (CHD) by country (per 100,000 inhabitants, the darker the color, the higher the rates). DALY is a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death. One DALY represents one lost year of "healthy" life. The sum of these DALYs across the population, or the burden of disease, can be thought of as a measurement of the gap between current health status and an ideal health situation where the entire population lives to an advanced age, free of disease and disability (Definition from WHO). Use of DALY has become increasingly popular in public health. The highest DALY rates for ischemic heart disease are observed in eastern Europe.

The age standardized ischemic heart disease (CHD) death rates per 100,000 individuals. This measure is calculated differently than the DALY but the overall picture it creates is highly similar: highest rates are observed in eastern Europe, whereas the lowest rates are observed in France and Japan.

Trends in deaths from CVD show a striking pattern. In many western and northern European countries, which originally had the highest rates of CVD, there has been a sharp decline in CVD deaths despite the growing prevalence of obesity. The decrease in CVD deaths is accounted for by a huge reduction in deaths from CHD and stroke and is largely explained by improvements in long-term and emergency medical care, combined with decreased smoking in more recent years. Behavioral adjustments towards diets and exercise are unlikely to have importantly contributed towards the decline

In contrast to western countries, there has been a substantial increase in CVD rates in eastern European countries. The extremely high rates of CVD in Eastern Europe have been linked to tobacco use, dietary behaviors, alcohol use and poor medical care

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Gluten Free

How many people shun gluten?
Millions.A YouGov poll last year found that one in ten UK households have at least one supposedly gluten-intolerant member, and that 60% of adults have bought gluten-free products. According to a US survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Centre,
Gluten responsible for obesity, inflammation and a host of  other chronic health conditions.

Since the turn of the century, gluten-free has gone from being an obscure niche to a multimillion-pound enterprise. Supermarkets now stock a vast range of gluten-free products, from gluten-free curry and gluten-free chicken nuggets to gluten-free Easter eggs.

But what exactly is gluten?
It’s the spongy complex of proteins, found in wheat, barley and rye, that gives elasticity to dough and enables it to rise. When flour is moistened and kneaded into dough, two proteins, gliadin and glutenin, join together to form an elastic, microscopic latticework that traps the carbon dioxide produced when yeast ferments,causing dough to inflate. Baking hardens the gluten, which helps the finished product keep its shape. Wheat – and thus gluten – is ubiquitous in the Western diet, and not just in bread, pasta and cakes; it’s a hidden ingredient in thousands of processed products such as ice cream, soy sauce and dressings.
Humans simply don’t have the enzymes to break down gluten, so some peptides (partially digested bits of the protein) remain in the intestine. For most of us, this is insignificant: they are simply eliminated. But for a small minority, it causes coeliac disease: the peptides cross the intestinal barrier, triggering the immune system. White blood cells go on the attack, damaging the intestinal wall. This results in stomach pain, diarrhoea, bloating, fatigue, weight loss and sometimes destruction of the small intestine. Coeliac disease is a serious autoimmune condition which requires the elimination of all wheat, for life. But many others today believe they are allergic, or sensitive, to gluten, and that giving it up improves their health.

Coeliac disease is rare, affecting about 1% of people in developed nations. A small number of others may suffer from allergies or sensitivities. But the vast majority do not react badly to gluten – otherwise wheat would never have become a leading food source. You could get healthier on a gluten-free diet because it might increase your intake of fruit and veg, and reduce consumption of refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pizza and puddings. But such a diet isn’t good for you per se. In fact, if you eat only gluten-free products, you may be short of vitamins, nutrients and fibre; they tend to be heavily processed, and can be loaded with fat and sugar. Gluten-free brown bread has twice as much fat as the normal alternative.
Diet fads and phobias have a long history. Many symptoms blamed on gluten – bloating, fatigue, “brain fog” and lack of “wellbeing” – have, in the past, been blamed on fat, yeast and monosodium glutamate. The current epidemic of self-diagnosed gluten intolerance is based on very little evidence. But there are complicating factors. Coeliac disease is definitely on the rise: US tests show that it has grown from around 0.2% of the population in the early 1950s to 1% today. And a high proportion of sufferers are undiagnosed: in the UK, tests have shown that one in 100 people have the disease, but only one in 800 is diagnosed (it requires a blood test and an endoscopy).Besides, there are also other forms of wheat allergy and sensitivity.

What are those?
There’s a rare wheat allergy, sometimes called baker’s asthma, which causes itching and sneezing. More controversially, there is “non-coeliac gluten sensitivity” or NCGS. Sufferers have coeliac-like symptoms which resolve themselves when they cut out gluten. (But it’s not well understood, very rare, and some scientists question whether it exists at all.) Finally, the NHS suggests that those who suffer from bloating after eating bread should avoid basic supermarket loaves, made using fast-acting yeast and added enzymes. These can cause gas and indigestion, for reasons that are nothing to do with gluten.

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