Cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. Cardiovascular disease includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, heart arrhythmia, congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, carditis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral artery disease, thromboembolic disease, and venous thrombosis. The underlying mechanisms vary depending on the disease. Coronary artery disease, stroke, and peripheral artery disease involve atherosclerosis. This may be caused by high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise, obesity,
Salt and cardiovascular disease up of mostly unprocessed foods and Western diets which tend to include highly processed foods. The growing awareness of excessive sodium consumption in connection with hypertension and cardiovascular disease has increased the usage of salt substitutes at both a consumer and industrial level. On a consumer level, salt substitutes, which usually substitute a portion of sodium chloride content with potassium chloride, can be used to increase the potassium to sodium consumption ratio. This change has been shown to blunt the effects of excess salt intake on hypertension and cardiovascular disease. It has also been suggested that salt substitutes can be