Antioxidants have the ability to combine with free radicals and deactivate them. Heart attacks and congestive heart failure are the causes of most heart-associated deaths. A heart attack is a blockage of one or more of the vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle. This has the effect of starving the heart muscle of both food and oxygen. Consequently, portions of the starved muscle die and cannot contract to help the heart pump.
Heart attacks can cause damage to the heart muscle that later can lead to heart failure.
This lower output eventually creates a series of blood flow problems in the body resulting in swelling of the ankles and fluid accumulation in the lungs. People with serious congestive heart failure cannot get enough oxygen because fluids accumulate in the lungs and fill the small air spaces. Long term high blood pressure, obesity, irregular heart beat, and any other condition that unnecessarily overworks the heart can weaken it and precipitate congestive heart failure. The heart muscle contracts approximately 70-80 times per minute in the average person, or about 3 billion beats in a lifetime. It is the only muscle that works continually throughout your life with no rest.