Vitamin C Rich Fruits Can Prevent Heart Disease

摘要

Heart disease is one of the major killers in the world today, ranking first as the cause of death in people above 65 years of age in the USA. Contrary to the old belief, it is no longer confined to affluent societies, nor is it restricted to the elderly. We now often see many young men suddenly knocked down by a heart attack. Medical scientists are trying hard to find out what is the ultimate cause of this malady threatening the lives of so many all over the world today. Basically heart disease is a progressive narrowing and hardening (atherosclerosis) of the two coronary arteries which supply blood to the heart itself. It would, therefore, be more appropriate to call it coronary heart disease (CHD). The damage can begin early in life with deposition of cholesterol in the wall of arteries. The narrowing naturally reduces the amount of oxygen and nourishment supplied to the heart muscle and its work capacity is hampered. We cannot live for more than a few minute once the heart stops pumping blood. And what a pump it is! At rest it pumps about five litres of blood per minute. In a man's life time this would add up to as much 150-250 million litres of blood pumped, without stopping for any repair or replacement.