Fast Food And Your Heart Health
Did you just fall off the fast-food wagon? A steady, high-fat diet can wreak havoc on the delicate inner lining of your arteries and leads to arterial disease, but even a single high-fat meal can spike triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (TGRL) – a type of blood lipid that can incite inflammation within arterial walls. This inflammation can lead to atherosclerosis, the leading cause of heart attacks, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
Just how many meals does it take? One recent study found the effect of a high-fat meal on blood vessel walls could vary widely, depending on factors like waist size and baseline triglyceride levels. If your triglyceride are already above normal (150 mg/dL) or your waist is wider than 32″, fatty meals may trigger increases in TGRL, which then cause the lining of the arteries to mount an inflammatory response that over time can result in vascular disease. This suggests that, for certain people, it takes a lot fewer stops at the drive-thru to do some serious damage to your blood vessels. Avoid playing Russian roulette with your heart and opt for whole, healthy foods instead.
Learn more about Baptist Health Heart Care and the services we offer. In addition to finding a provider, you can take a free assessment to compare your heart’s actual age to your heart’s biological age and learn your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
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