Dr Amir Khan

So, not all cholesterols are equal.

So these low-density lipoproteins are the ones that carry fat into your blood.

And if they're doing that a lot, that fat can collect as plaques on the inside of your blood vessels.

Now, if the inside of your blood vessels start to narrow because these fatty plaques are building up on them, that raises your blood pressure because your blood has got a much narrower tube to travel through.

And as it's traveling through that narrow tube, the pressure will go up.

Pretty much, yes.

It is sticky.

It sticks to the inside of your blood vessels.

Now, the story doesn't stop there, unfortunately.

So, what these LDLs do as well is increase inflammation around that plaque.

So, your immune system goes, oh no, that plaque should not be there.

So...

Out comes your immune system going, right, we've got to sort this out.

There's something going wrong here.

We do not want it there.

That causes inflammation around that plaque.

Now, when that inflammation develops because your immune system is trying to fight that plaque, that plaque can become unstable.

So it starts because your immune system is trying to loosen it and get rid of it.

So as it becomes unstable, it can fly off into your blood and it can go down into a much narrower blood vessel and completely obstruct it.

And that's the real danger.