actually believe that heart disease is more likely to be a result of stress and the consumption of processed foods, especially refined sugar. When you have stress in the body, it causes a spike in cortisol, which breaks down vitamin C. When you have a long-term subtle deficiency of vitamin C, this causes a weakening of the arterial walls and then in your body's natural intelligence it, uses readily available cholesterol in the bloodstream to patch up the weakening arterial walls.