Why do foam cells embed themselves into the intima of artery walls?
Arteries are muscular tubes. They open and constrict to control the flow of blood through them. When you get cold, they constrict to reduce the flow of blood to the skin to prevent excessive heat loss. When you get hot, they open to increase the flow of blood to the skin to increase heat loss. To see a cross-section through a typical artery wall, see www.health-heart.org/acceuil.htm and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Foam cells don’t just go anywhere; they embed themselves into damaged areas of artery walls. This is a good thing otherwise damaged artery walls could rupture, causing a haemorrhage. What damages artery walls? • Chronically-high blood pressure • Chronically-high blood glucose • Chronically-high blood free radicals • Chronically-high blood homocysteine • Chronically-low blood anti-oxidants • Chronically-high blood pro-oxidants • Chronically-low blood anti-inflammatories How can I reduce damage to artery walls? 1) Have blood pressure (BP) tested regularly. There’s on
