Still Beating Strong
[Heart Health] Vol. 17 No. 10 October 2012 Still Beating Strong By Steve Myers, Senior Editor A great deal is asked of the heart, both abstractly and physically. A mere pump, the heart helps push nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood throughout the body and performs this primary task faithfully and rhythmically for decades. It is the very definition of a loyal worker. However, its efficiency, consistency and longevity rely on a healthy cardiovascular system, and this is where people can run into problems over time. Aside from some genetically linked structural and functional issues, the heart is a happy, healthy pumper as long as the blood is flowing freely throughout the body's network of veins and arteries. Any number of situations along this vascular journey can reduce blood flow to the heart and result in heart damage or death. Unfortunately, such problems are common. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, despite a recent decline in heart-related deaths—cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rates declined 31 percent from 1998 to 2008.1 Still, about every 25 seconds, someone has a coronary event, and one person dies of a coronary event each minute, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). To put the disease prevalence in simple prospective, AHA has reported more than one in three adults has some form of CVD. The problem isn't just American. "CVD kills more people worldwide than any other disease," said Stephen Moon, CEO, Provexis and Science in Sport. "Indeed, experts estimate that by the year 2020, nearly 40 percent of all deaths worldwide will be due to CVD, more than twice the percentage of deaths from cancer." The reason why heart disease is so prevalent is the same reason why the heart health product market is huge and still expanding.
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