How Diabetes Leads to Heart Disease

Diabetes and prediabetes is known to increase the risk of heart disease and stroke in patients. Diabetic patients become prone to these diseases at very early age causing their health to suffer immensely. Women who haven’t entered menopause are still better off than men of the same age. But women who have diabetes have an increased risk to developing heart disease because diabetes usually diminishes the protective effects offered to a woman during her childbearing years. People who have diabetes are likely to face more serious heart attacks which may even result in death. High blood glucose levels caused by diabetes over a long period of time have the tendency of developing deposits of fatty materials on the inner sides of the blood vessel walls. These deposits in return may affect the flowing blood which goes to the heart, increasing the chances of clogging and hardening of blood vessels.

Since diabetes increases the risk of developing heart disease, let’s try to understand a few reasons as to how diabetes impacts our bodies and in turn causes cardiovascular disease.

Central obesity: Central obesity basically refers to the carrying of extra weight around the waistline, rather than the hips. Any waistline that measures more than 40 inches for men and more than 35 inches for women means that an individual is a candidate of central obesity. This increases the risk of developing heart disease since abdominal fat increases the production of LDL (bad) cholesterol, which is a type of blood fat that has the tendency to deposit itself inside the wall of the blood vessels.

Abnormal blood fat (cholesterol) levels: LDL (bad) cholesterol which builds up due to excessive fat may collect inside your blood vessels, leading to narrowing and hardening of arteries that carry blood from the heart to the rest of the body. This may lead them to become blocked in the long run causing heart disease. Triglyceride which is another type of blood fat also has the tendency of causing heart disease if its quantity in the blood is very high. HDL (good) cholesterol levels also affect the risk of developing heart disease. If their level is very low then one has a greater tendency of developing cardiovascular disease.

High Blood Pressure: Blood pressure which is caused by diabetes also has the capability of developing heart disease since hypertension leads to an individual’s heart to work harder to pump blood. High blood pressure condition for a long time can severely strain the heart, damaging blood vessels and increasing not only the risk of developing heart disease but also stroke, eye related problems, kidney problems, etc.

Though diabetes may have such catastrophic effects on an individual’s body yet it’s possible to lower the risk of acquiring these diseases by maintaining your blood glucose (blood sugar), blood pressure, and blood cholesterol at optimal levels by ways which have been suggested by diabetes experts. It’s essential that you
1. Choose to eat wisely
2. Remain more physically active
3. Take the required medications if blood sugar, blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels dwindle intensely