Diabetes as a Risk Factor for Heart Disease

Damage to the blood vessels and heart is known as cardiovascular disease. The damage is usually done by fatty deposits on the walls of blood vessels and arteries, which reduce the blood flow. Overtime, the blood vessels walls lose their elasticity contributing to high blood pressure and leading to more damage to the heart.

Diabetes has long been recognized an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Diabetes is related to the pancreas, which produces hormone insulin responsible for moving glucose from the blood stream and into the body cells for energy. When there is little insulin produced or the body has become resistant to insulin, glucose remains in the blood stream and cannot move across the cells to supply them with energy for working properly.

High glucose levels in the blood can damage the artery walls and make them develop fatty deposits called atheroma. If atheroma builds up in the coronary arteries there can develop coronary artery disease, which may result in angina and heart attack.

However, the risk factor for cardiovascular disease is not just high blood glucose levels, but rather a variety of mechanisms that interact. In diabetes blood vessels are more susceptible to other established risk factors, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and smoking. And more than 90% of heart patients have one or more of these additional risk factors. Therefore it is important for diabetic patients to manage these high levels of glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol and to quit smoking.

Of course, the best way to prevent cardiovascular disease is to prevent diabetes itself. This can be done by controlling your weight and performing regular physical activity. These things will be great for the general mental and physical being, and will also make you less likely to develop atherosclerosis and stroke.

If you are already diagnosed with diabetes, it is very important to control your blood glucose levels to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This can be done by taking certain medicines to maintain normal blood glucose levels, as well as by making some lifestyle changes, such as becoming more physically active, eating a healthy diet, controlling your weight and quitting smoking.

Even a modest weight reduction and a 30-minute exercise routine for 5 days per week can reduce the development of type 2 diabetes by more than 50%. Meantime, proper blood glucose control reduces the risk of getting heart disease by 42%.