THIS WEEK'S CONSULTATION

Your exciting and revealing paper has a line-up of specialist and general practice doctors waiting to answer your health concerns - and it is for free! So come on, send in those nagging health bugs and let this week's Sun Doctor deal with it. You don't have to worry about revealing your true identity. Give us a pseudo, it's fine! Dear Sun Doc

During a recent visit to my doctor, she insisted that I take a cholesterol test. Physicians assert that one must constantly monitor blood pressure and that hypertension and obesity can cause heart attacks. Please enlighten me on this.A.W

Dear A.W

A heart attack (or a coronary event) happens when there is reduced or no blood flow and reduced oxygen going to a part of the heart, causing death of the heart muscle.

It usually happens over several days and causes a squeezing chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness and nausea. Women may experience pain in the jaw, neck, back or arm. Most of the time, the heart attack occurs due to a clot in heart blood vessels that are hardened by fatty calcified deposits (atherosclerosis). Risk factors include having a close relative who had a heart attack, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking and lack of exercise.

High cholesterol levels, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking can contribute to damaging of the blood vessels and the accumulation of the fatty calcified deposits that narrow the blood vessels and reduce or block blood supply to heart muscle, thus causing a heart attack.