Cardiovascular Disease and Functional Foods: The Effect of Milk Derived Peptides on Hypertension Cardiovascular Disease and Hypertension Cardiovascular disease (CVD) encompasses many conditions including coronary heart disease, heart attack (myocardial infarction), stroke and hypertension. In 2003, CVD accounted for 16.7 million premature deaths worldwide (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2003), 238000 of which occurred in the UK (Sproston and Primatesta, 2003). In addition to this, CVD serious ...