Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are heart and blood vessel diseases. Many are related to a process called atherosclerosis, where plaque builds up inside the walls of the arteries. According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) In 2008, an estimated 17.3 million people died from CVDs. If this trend continues, the WHO predicts that by 2030 almost 23.6 million people will die from CVDs.

The numbers for diabetes are also quite sobering. While in 2010, 1.9 million new cases of diabetes we...