Fast Food Dangers

Tempted to swing by the burger mart? Don’t. Even one fast-food meal can pummel your arteries and put you on the road to atherosclerosis.
Did you just fall off the fast-food wagon? A steady high-fat diet can wreak havoc on the delicate inner lining of your arteries and leads to arterial disease, but even a single high-fat meal can spike triglyceride rich lipoprotein (TGRL) — a type of blood lipid that can incite inflammation within arterial walls. This inflammation can lead to atherosclerosis, the leading cause of heart attacks, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
Just how many meals does it take? We can’t say for sure. But one recent study found that the effect of a high-fat meal on blood vessel walls can vary widely, depending on factors like waist size and baseline triglyceride levels.
If your triglycerides are already above normal (150 mg/dL) or your waist is wider than 32 inches, fatty meals may trigger increases in TGRL, which then cause the lining of the arteries to mount an inflammatory response that over time can result in vascular disease. This suggests that, for certain people, it takes a lot fewer stops at the drive-thru to do serious damage to your blood vessels.
Avoid playing Russian roulette with your heart and opt for healthy, whole foods instead.