The deaths are also partly the result of medical successes: People are living longer, and more people are surviving heart attacks. Heart failure tends to become more common with age, and heart attacks leave behind damage to heart muscle.

New research links plastic takeout containers to a higher risk of developing heart disease. Here's what could be behind this, plus how concerned you should be.

Are you guilty of the plastic addiction sin? Ask yourself if you are someone who cannot do without items of plastic in your daily activities. Do you accept hot food takeaways or online take-outs packaged in plastic containers?

Disposable plastic containers could be leaching dangerous chemicals into your takeaway food, potentially increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease. In experiments on rats, researchers in China have found evidence that drinking water exposed to the various chemical additives that seep from heated plastic packaging causes changes to the body,