Diabetes Risk: Hypertension and Unhealthy Cholesterol Are Linked
Diabetes is a complicated disease that damages many parts of the body. People with diabetes are more likely than people without diabetes to have unhealthy levels of cholesterol. They’re also more likely to have high blood pressure. Here’s why: If your blood pressure is high, you may have unhealthy cholesterol levels as well, which raises risk for type 2 diabetes.
High blood sugar levels causes problems and hurts many organs, including the liver’s ability to remove cholesterol from the blood. This leads to an increase in “bad” LDL cholesterol. People with diabetes also have increased levels of insulin, which adversely affects the number of cholesterol particles in the blood. High insulin levels will raise LDL cholesterol that form plaques in arteries, and lower the number of “good” HDL cholesterol that removes harmful LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream.
LDL cholesterol is “bad” because it accumulates in the walls of arteries, causing atherosclerosis. This narrowing of the arteries puts a heavier workload on the heart and can lead to a heart attack if a clot forms. Diabetes can also cause higher levels of triglycerides, another type of cholesterol that circulates in the blood.
Elevated levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are regularly seen in people with insulin resistance, even before diabetes has fully developed, studies say.
Many people with diabetes develop high blood pressure, or hypertension. In fact, high blood pressure is an important risk factor for the development of many diabetes-related complications. This occurs because high levels of blood glucose can damage the capillaries, the smallest of blood vessels. The blood vessel walls thicken and become porous, and may leak blood. High blood sugars also cause blood vessels to become blocked, restricting the flow of blood.
If you have high blood pressure, or hypertension, the heart must work harder to pump blood, which strains the heart, further damages blood vessels, and increases risk of heart and stroke.