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Coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease are the two most common terms that you'll hear people use in relation to heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) refers to all the diseases of the heart and blood vessels, including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and heart failure.
Coronary heart disease (CHD) mainly refers to conditions that affect the heart, such as angina and heart attack.
CHD develops when the blood vessels that supply the heart become narrowed and hardened with fatty deposits.

This condition is called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis makes it more difficult for blood and essential nutrients such as oxygen to get to the heart.

Angina is a feeling of tightness in the chest and is a sign that the heart muscle isn't getting enough oxygen.

CHD is the major cause of death, including premature death, in England, accounting for 115,000 deaths a year.

Who's at risk?

Certain factors increase your risk of developing CHD and having angina or a heart attack.
Some of these factors can be changed and some cannot.

Changeable factors include:

smoking,
physical activity/exercise,
diet.
Other factors include:
a family history of heart disease,
age,

diabetes.
Men tend to be at greater risk, but the risk to women is increasing, particularly if they smoke. As women reach the menopause their risk becomes similar to men

You can reduce the risk of CHD by stopping smoking, increasing your physical activity, and reducing your fat intake (in particular saturated fats). If you have a family history, it is important that your doctor is aware so that you can have appropriate screening tests.

For example, you can have your blood cholesterol checked, and your blood pressure monitored.

What dietary advice is there?

You need to eat healthily and reduce your intake of fat (in particular saturated fats).
People tend to eat too much fat. You can reduce your intake of fat by choosing low fat options, trimming the fat off meat, not eating the skin on poultry,grilling foods instead of frying, and avoiding adding extra fat once food is cooked.

We also tend to eat more salt than we need. The sodium in salt increases the risk of high blood pressure, and high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke. It is believed that, in part, our relatively high salt diets may contribute to the increases in blood pressure we see with age in our population.

On average, people should aim to keep their salt intake to less than 6g per day (equivalent to about 2g of sodium). Most of the salt we eat (65% - 85%) is already in foods, and so it is important to be aware of the salt content of pre-prepared foods which can be a major source.

Potassium on the other hand has a beneficial effect on blood pressure, and fruits and vegetables are a good source of potassium.

So, although altering your lifestyle after you've had a heart attack can protect you from having another one, it's an even better idea for younger people to take better care of their hearts by eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising, before problems occur.