| Heart Disease | | | | flaws in this theory, beginning with the fact that heart |
| If you're like most people, you think that heart disease | | | | disease in America has increased during the period |
| is a problem for other folks. But heart disease is the | | | | when consumption of saturated fat has decreased. |
| number one killer in the U.S. It is also a major cause of | | | | "The diet-heart idea," said the distinguished George |
| disability. There are many different forms of heart | | | | Mann, "is the greatest scam in the history of medicine. |
| disease. The most common cause of heart disease is | | | | Stress Contribute to Heart Disease |
| narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries, the | | | | Medical researchers aren't sure exactly how stress |
| blood vessels that supply blood to the heart itself. | | | | increases the risk of heart disease. Stress itself might |
| | | | be a risk factor, or it could be that high levels of stress |
| Symptoms of Heart disease | | | | make other risk factors (such as high cholesterol or |
| The symptoms of heart disorder include certain types | | | | high blood pressure) worse. For example, if you are |
| of pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations | | | | under stress, your blood pressure goes up, you may |
| (awareness of slow, fast, or irregular heartbeats), | | | | overeat, you may exercise less and you may be |
| light-headedness, fainting, and swelling in the legs, | | | | more likely to smoke. |
| ankles, and feet. However, these symptoms do not | | | | Treatment of Heart Disease |
| necessarily indicate a heart disorder. | | | | Diagnosis and Conventional Treatment |
| Symptoms may be very noticeable, but sometimes | | | | In many cases the first indication of cardiovascular |
| you can have the disease and not have any | | | | disease is a sudden heart attack. There are more than |
| symptoms. | | | | 1.5 million heart attacks in the United States every year |
| Chest pain or discomfort (angina) is the most common | | | | and 30% of them are fatal within the first month(5,24). |
| symptom. You feel this pain when the heart is not | | | | As one popular medical textbook puts it: "Sudden |
| getting enough blood or oxygen. How bad the pain is | | | | death is the first and only manifestation of coronary |
| varies from person to person. | | | | heart disease in about 25% of patients." |
| Causes of Heart Diseases | | | | Intermittent claudicating involves pain in a muscle to |
| Too much low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad | | | | which the blood supply has been restricted due to |
| cholesterol") in the blood causes plaque to form on | | | | atherosclerosis. The pains occur with exercise and |
| artery walls, which starts a disease process called | | | | subside within a couple of minutes once the exercise is |
| atherosclerosis. When plaque builds up in the coronary | | | | stopped. Conventional medical therapy includes an |
| arteries that supply blood to the heart, you are at | | | | emphasis on daily walks, weight reduction, and total |
| greater risk of having a heart attack. | | | | avoidance of smoking. |
| Many distinguished scientists have pointed to serious | | | | |