Control carbohydrates and saturated fats and eat fish and vegetables
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced the results of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2021) on the 24th. It is worth noting that hypercholesterolemia, which can cause vascular disease, has increased in both men and women. Last year, the number of cases of hypercholesterolemia increased by 1.5 percentage points for women (20.3%) and 1.3 percentage points for men (21.5%) from the previous year. In particular, the incidence of hypercholesterolemia in people in their 50s has increased relatively significantly. Special attention is needed in situations that overlap with menopause.
◆ Hypercholesterolemia?… If left untreated, it can lead to heart disease and stroke
Hypercholesterolemia is a disease caused by too much cholesterol in the blood. When cholesterol builds up and sticks to the walls of blood vessels, the elasticity of the blood vessels decreases and promotes hardening of the arteries. When arteriosclerosis worsens, blood vessels are narrowed or blocked, leading to vascular diseases such as heart disease (angina pectoris-myocardial infarction) and stroke (cerebral infarction-cerebral haemorrhage). It is a frightening life-threatening disease that leaves major after-effects such as body paralysis and language disorder even if a stroke is saved.
◆ Women in their 50s, why is hypercholesterolemia dangerous? Vascular crisis overlapping with menopause
Age 50 is the age when the blood vessels seriously age. Moreover, women suffer double pain because they are going through menopause. In a situation where estrogen (female hormone), which protected blood and blood vessels at a young age, has disappeared and hypercholesterolemia appears, blood vessels deteriorate further, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. US health authorities also launched a prevention campaign by highlighting stroke as the most dangerous disease for postmenopausal women. Korea, where the diet is becoming westernized, should also be aware of the ‘stroke crisis’ among postmenopausal women.
◆ Nip vascular disease in the bud! How?
Hypercholesterolemia is when the blood becomes very cloudy. In the blood, triglycerides and ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL) increase (hyperlipidaemia), and ‘good’ cholesterol (HDL) decreases, and dyslipidaemia is diagnosed. In general, the condition of blood turbidity is also referred to as dyslipidemia.
Dietary management is important for the prevention and treatment of dyslipidemia, which is a major risk factor for heart and cerebrovascular disease. Excess carbohydrates and fats, especially saturated fats, should be avoided. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the ratio of carbohydrate to fat intake was too high.
◆ Carbohydrate management. Eat fish, vegetables, legumes, olive oil, and perilla oil often.
1) For blood and blood vessel health, you need to improve your eating habits with relatively high carbohydrate intake. If you mainly eat rice, you can eat a lot of carbohydrates, so it is good to control the amount and use whole grains such as brown rice and whole wheat instead of white rice. Be careful not to eat extra carbohydrate-rich potatoes, sweet potatoes, or bread as snacks or desserts.
2) As a side dish, it is good to cut off the oily parts of meat and often eat blue-backed fish (mackerel, saury, mackerel, tuna, etc.) which are rich in unsaturated fatty acids which beneficial to blood vessels. In addition, eat plenty of vegetables and legumes that are high in dietary fiber to help get rid of cholesterol.
3) For snacks, it is helpful to eat raw fruit and dairy products such as low sugar yogurt rather than processed foods such as snacks that contain trans fat. As sweet food is also bad for the health of blood vessels, it is good to control soft drinks and desserts.
4) In order to purify the blood, instead of limiting fat intake only, limit saturated fatty acids (pork belly, bacon, sausage, ramen, etc.) or trans fatty acids (cookies, fried foods ) and increase unsaturated fatty acids (fish, nuts). , olive oil, perilla oil), etc. It is important to eat plenty of good quality fat.
