How Does Coronary Heart Disease Affect the Body?

As more people become aware of just how widespread heart conditions really are, as well as how deadly they can be, topics like how does coronary heart disease affect the body will continue to garner more attention. Here are a few quick numbers for you to drive home this point. This year over 1 million Americans will have a heart attack, of those half will die. This number accounts for 1 out of every 5 deaths caused by all diseases. Also, it is estimated that 41 million women in America have heart disease, debunking the myth that it is primarily a condition that affects men.

But how does coronary artery disease affect the body?

For me this has always been a fascinating topic. When I was a kid I used to see a lot of men over 40 who showed many of the symptoms of coronary artery disease such as excessive sweating, shortness of breath, occasional lapses in mental clarity, chest and back pain, and numbness in their legs, arms, and fingers. At the time I had no idea what I was observing and simply thought this was a natural part of getting older.

Most of them were inactive, smoked, and ate a diet high in foods that we now know contribute to heart disease such as high saturated fat foods like stick butter, burgers, cheese, breakfast gravy, sausage, whole milk, and franks. But in their defense at the time it was not well understood as how does coronary heart disease affect the body.

The main component of heart disease is a reduction, and ultimately a blockage of blood flow in the arteries supplying blood to the heart. The primary cause of this is arterial plaque which can start to form in the arteries as early as the age of 3 (that is not a misprint). Over the course of time more and more plaque accumulates reducing blood flow to the heart thus forcing the heart to have to work harder and harder to supply your body with the essential nutrients and oxygen necessary for life. This shortage of oxygen can cause breathing to become labored, as the body struggles to get the necessary amount of oxygen to the muscles and cells.

Can anything be done to halt the progression or reverse this condition?

The answer is yes! A recent study involving over 20,000 individuals found that a combination of a low saturated fat diet, moderate daily exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, and a glass of red wine a day reduced the chances of heart attack by ninety percent.

Additionally, many are finding that by combining the natural lifestyle choices above with a natural cholesterol reduction supplement they are able to improve heart and artery health even more.

In summary, rather than asking how does coronary heart disease affect the body one should really be asking what can I do about it to avoid becoming just another heart attack statistic.

Rob D. Hawkins is an enthusiastic advocate for the use of safe and effective high quality alternative health products and natural living, with over 10 years experience in the field.