Question

1. Heart Disease (atherosclerosis) is the leading cause of death in the world. There are many risk factors associated with this disease. Some you have no control over like heredity. Explain what you can do as an individual to reduce the risk factors you do have control over.

2.Explain why experimenting with hormones without medical supervision can result in serious consequences.

Answer 1

1. Basically in life threatning artherosclerosis, the arteries starts narrowing throughout the body , which affects supply of blood (coronary artery disease). In this, the arteries gets clogged up with fatty deposits which are generally the chloesterol, waste products, fatty substance, fibrin (which is the clotting material in blood). Because of this the blood flow gets affected, it reduces, walls of blood vessels thickens which in turn causes less supply of oxygen and nutrients to other parts of body.

It can start affecting the individual from childhood itself, or in its middle age or it can develop in later stage of life. Major causes of this are increased levels of bad chloesterol, high blood pressure and smoking (this being the major cause, smoking tends to deposits fatty deposits more likely). The interior of coronary arteries are found to be affected.

As an individual, we can change our lifestyle and through healthy life habits we can prevent this disease to great extent. Here are some of these-

a. Quit smoking and alcohol - This is the main cause of the disease. This makes even more risky to the individual who already has blood pressure and diabetes. Smoking causes large amount of fatty substances to get deposited.

b. Diet and exercise - High saturated foods and foods high in cholesterol must be avoided. This tends to build fatty substance on the inner lining of the artery causes them to block. Processed frozen Foods, foods containing trans fats like chips, foods high in sugar, salt and fats must be avoided and consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds is must. Consume low fat dairy products. Avoiding sweet tea, soda, desserts, foods containing sugar syrup etc. Include herbs like garlic in everyday diet that helps to llower cholesterol levels preventing blood clots and ginger that helps to dissolve the fatty substance deposits in arteries. Along with diet, regular exercise will maintain the blood pressure and blood sugar levels, will reduce the amount of cholesterol and fats in blood. This will also decrease the risk of obesity and related diseases.

c.Keeping our sugar levels checked at regular intervals, and regular checkups (blood pressure) is must.

These are some of the healthy habits that can prevent the risk of developing artherosclerosis.

2. Harmones are basically chemical messengers that has control all over our body. They are produced by glands in our body that performs various functions.They coordinate our growth, metabolism, and fertility. It is extremely important to keep all our harmone levels maintained because even a slight imbalance can cause life threatening diseases. Our brain receives the signals and the harmones are directly secreted in the blood stream that reaches the required part of the body so it is the chemical messenger. This are the endocine glands.

Our body tend to secrete many harmones, and depending on the medical condition, doctors prescribe the specific harmone. If taken without medical supervision ,can cause severe effects that could lead to life long diseased conditions.

This can lead to various abnormalities caused by harmonal imbalance. It can cause infertility in men and women.

It can cause heart disease, stroke, blood clots or even cancer.

It can lead to diabetes via dysfunctioning of pancreas that normally produces insulin to maintain blood glucose levels. There can be mood swings, insomnia, depression, persistant weight gain problem, there can be excessive sweating, loss of appetite or food cravings (imbalance in leptin or ghrelin harmones), loss of muscle mass (growth harmone imbalance).

It can lead to Cushing's disease (over production of pituitary gland harmone), adrenal insufficiency (low release of cortisol or sometimes aldosterone), if too much of thyroid harmone released leads to hyperthyroidism (Grave disease) and low level leads to hypothyroidism.

There can be overproduction of androgens leading to Poly cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in females, irregular menstrual cycle

It can lead to hypo-parathyroidism (insufficient release of parathyroid harmone).

These are some of the serious life threatening disease that can occur because of harmonal imbalance ,if harmones are not taken without medical supervision.