What is Atherosclerosis

What is Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a disease affecting arterial blood vessels. It is a chronic inflammatory response in the walls of arteries, in large part to the deposition of lipoproteins (plasma proteins that carry cholesterol and triglycerides). It is commonly referred to as a "hardening" or "furring" of the arteries. It is caused by the formation of multiple plaques within the arteries.

Pathologically, the atheromatous plaque is divided into three distinct components:

1. The atheroma ("lump of porridge", from Athera, porridge in Greek,) is the nodular accumulation of a soft, flaky, yellowish material at the center of large plaques, composed of macrophages nearest the lumen of the artery. 2. Underlying areas of cholesterol crystals. 3. Calcification at the outer base of older/more advanced lesions.

The following terms are similar, yet distinct, in both spelling and meaning, and can be easily confused: arteriosclerosis, arteriolosclerosis and atherosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening (and loss of elasticity) of medium or large arteries (in Greek, "Arterio" meaning artery and "sclerosis" meaning hardening), arteriolosclerosis is arteriosclerosis mainly affecting the arterioles (small arteries), atherosclerosis is a hardening of an artery specifically due to an atheromatous plaque. Therefore, atherosclerosis is a form of arteriosclerosis.

Arteriosclerosis ("hardening of the artery") results from a deposition of tough, rigid collagen inside the vessel wall and around the atheroma. This increases the wall thickness and decreases the elasticity of the artery wall. Arteriolosclerosis (hardening of small arteries, the arterioles) is the result of collagen deposition, but also muscle wall thickening and deposition of protein ("hyaline").

Calcification, sometimes even ossification (formation of complete bone tissue) occurs within the deepest and oldest layers of the sclerosed vessel wall.

Atherosclerosis causes two main problems. First, the atheromatous plaques, though long compensated for by artery enlargement, see IMT, eventually lead to plaque ruptures and stenosis (narrowing) of the artery and, therefore, an insufficient blood supply to the organ it feeds. Alternatively, if the compensating artery enlargement process is excessive, then a net aneurysm results.

These complications are chronic, slowly progressing and cumulative. Most commonly, soft plaque suddenly ruptures (see vulnerable plaque), causing the formation of a thrombus that will rapidly slow or stop blood flow, e.g. 5 minutes, leading to death of the tissues fed by the artery. This catastrophic event is called an infarction. One of the most common recognized scenarios is called coronary thrombosis of a coronary artery causing myocardial infarction (a heart attack). Another common scenario in very advanced disease is claudication from insufficient blood supply to the legs, typically due to a combination of both stenosis and aneurysmal segments narrowed with clots. Since atherosclerosis is a body wide process, similar events also occur in the arteries to the brain, intestines, kidneys, legs, etc.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherosclerosis

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Easy And Effective Natural Home Remedies For Arteriosclerosis by Krishan Bakhru

If the causes of arteriosclerosis are known, remedial action should be taken promptly to remove them. To begin with, the patient should resort to short juice fast for five to seven days. The juices of fresh raw vegetables and fruits may be taken diluted with water on 50:50 basis. Grape-fruit, pineapple, lemon and juice of green vegetables are specially beneficial. A warm water enema should be used daily to cleanse the bowels during the period of juice fasting.

After that, the patient should take optimum diet consisting of seeds, nuts and grains, vegetables and fruits, with emphasis on raw foods and sprouted seeds. Vegetable oils like sunflower oil, flex seed oil and olive oil should be used regularly. Further short fasts on juices may be undertaken at intervals of three months or so, depending on the progress being made.

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