It’s a condition that sneaks upon you. You may have it and not even know it.

If you eat red meat, drink more than two alcoholic beverages a day or smoke, then you’re sky-rocketing your risk of getting heart disease. And that could lead to, at the very least, angina (a pain in your chest when you exercise or get stressed out for any reason), or at worst – heart attack, stroke or death. But, what is heart disease, exactly, and how does it get you?

In effect, heart disease is a build-up of plaque inside arteries and the valves of your heart. This plaque is directly responsible for preventing your heart from doing its job by thickening and slowing blood flow. In some cases, it will even stop blood flow altogether. And that’s where the danger lies.

If your heart doesn’t work right, your body begins to break down. Kidney failure, stroke and eventually complete heart failure.

Heart disease quietly prevents your heart from pumping efficiently; it’s that simple. If you have it, you’ll notice pains in your chest when performing tasks or exercises. It may even come in the form of something you shrug off like shortness of breath. This is of particular concern for men and women over 49.

When the heart’s primary function, pumping oxygen-rich blood to all your vital organs, is interrupted or slowed by a thickening wall of plaque inside valves and arteries, your body reacts by losing functionality in the kidneys and the brain – not to mention every other organ that uses blood to operate in tip-top shape.

Of all the contributors to heart disease, the greatest risk comes from smoking.

Blood pressure and cholesterol

Two other major players in the heart disease circle are...


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