A high blood cholesterol and other factors including a genetic background, cause damage to arteries leading to blockage by atheroma. Obstruction by atheroma occurs most often in the coronary arteries that feed the heart muscle with blood (see Fig. 1 in the chapter Heart Attacks and Fig. 1 in the chapter Atherosclerosis/Atherothrom-bosis).
The heart muscle is one of the strongest in the body and as powerful as the muscles of the thigh and legs. The act of

TABLE 2
Cardiovascular and Coronary Artery Disease [CAD] Mortality per
100,000 [Rounded]

Country All causes CVD CHD Stroke
Established Market Economies
France
Men 1361 330 142 67
Women 552 122 36 35
Spain
Men 1323 399 181 93
Women 578 180 52 57
Portugal
Men 1673 593 207 267
Women 805 305 73 158
Finland
Men 1691 834 631 110
Women 1718 837 587 132
Scotland
Men 1846 886 655 139
Women 1103 441 273 107
Economies in Transition
Russian Federation
Men 2881 1343 767 409
Women 1223 657 288 178
Ukraine
Men 2940 1490 749 606
Women 1379 830 342 408
Note: Slovena has the lowest rates of the former Soviet and Eastern bloc countries: CVD mortality = men 692, women~300.

Italy and Germany have low CVD mortality i walking or running requires contraction of the leg muscles. Such muscle work or activity requires efficient delivery of oxygen, glucose, and other nutrients. These are brought from the heart to the muscles by blood vessels called arteries. The heart, our lifeline, functions as a simple pump that pumps more than 250 million liters of blood in an individual’s average lifetime. It is surprising, therefore, that the muscle of this important pump receives a supply of blood via only three small arteries that have a diameter of a soda straw, ranging from 3 to 7 mm. The coronary arteries run along the surface of the heart and are branches of the largest artery in the body, the aorta; the aorta commences at the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart. In the chapter Anatomy of the Heart and Circula¬tion, Fig. 8 shows the course of the coronary arteries and Figs. 5 and 9 show their origin close to the aortic valve.

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