Endothelial Health!

Endothelial Health Webinar

According to ABC News, 45% of the American adult population is at significant risk for heart and cardiovascular disease.  This is at an all time high and it centers on three major areas:  High Blood Pressure, Cholesterol Concerns, and Diabetes

Staggering numbers that also offer great hope when you understand that there is one common factor to all of these diseases.  That common factor is your cardiovascular system.  While most people concentrate on your heart as the central focus of cardiovascular health, I’m here to tell you that there is another organ that is equally important, and some believe even more important, than your heart.

 The Importance of Endothelial Health!

Unfortunately, most people have never heard of this organ.  Yet the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who discovered how this organ produces a gas that actually regulates your entire cardiovascular system.  The organ is called the Endothelium and the gas is Nitric Oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system.  This health information webinar will teach you how to effectively nourish your endothelium for proper nitric oxide production, which has the potential to significantly improve cardiovascular health. 

 Endothelial Health Is Key To Good Health!

You must learn how to properly nourish your endothelium – the largest secreting organ in your entire body – if you want to improve your cardiovascular health and overall wellness.  Watch the above YouTube video to learn how and why!  Over the next couple of days I’ll be posting additional webinars showing you specifically how endothelial health affects high blood pressure, cholesterol concerns, and diabetes.  Even cognitive function is effected by endothelial health.

Together we can work to save a million lives!

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology.  He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicago area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years. 

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam.  The information about endothelial health has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Nitric Oxide Foods!

Nitric Oxide Molecule

The core of a good cardiovascular program is learning how to choose nitric oxide foods and supplements that will enhance your endothelium’s ability to create nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system. Just in this first line I introduced you to several key physiological terms that will absolutely reduce your risk for heart disease if you know how to maximize the benefits of nitric oxide foods.

Let’s start with your endothelium. This organ is now considered to be the largest secreting organ in your body.  Unfortunately, most people have never heard of it, yet your endothelium lines all of your cardiovascular system.  The inside of your heart, arteries, and veins are all lined by this one-celled thick organ.  Your capillaries are just extensions of your endothelium.  Most vascular researchers today believe that your endothelium ultimately controls most of your cardiovascular system. And one of its functions is to take nitric oxide foods and convert them into nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide is your body’s most powerful vasodilator. This means that it relaxes the smooth muscle of your vascular wall to properly control your blood pressure.  Nitric oxide is a short-lived gas that contains a single nitrogen and oxygen atom that, when combined together, act as a signaling molecule.  A signaling molecule is used by your body to cause something else to occur.  In addition to helping you maintain a normal blood pressure, your cardiovascular system uses nitric oxide to keep your blood platelet cells from sticking together to prevent strokes and heart attacks.  Nitric oxide is also used to heal and repair damage to the endothelium.

But it doesn’t end there. Your nervous system uses nitric oxide as a neurotransmitter to transmit impulses between nerve cells. Your immune system uses nitric oxide to destroy infectious agents like bacteria, viruses, and tumors.  In fact there is not a cell, tissue, or organ in your body that is not directly or indirectly impacted by nitric oxide.  You could not live without it and the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who discovered how the endothelium produces this life-saving and live-enhancing gas called nitric oxide.

Given this information wouldn’t it make sense to learn which nitric oxide foods will nourish your endothelium for improved nitric oxide production?

Nitric Oxide Foods – What Are They?

When we look at nitric oxide foods we’re looking for foods that contain the amino acids L-arginine and L-citrulline.  Technically speaking your endothelium uses L-arginine to create nitric oxide.  The reason why I include L-citrulline is because this amino acid will recycle L-arginine to turbo charge your production of nitric oxide.  We’ll talk about this in just a little bit.

To help you better understand which foods are good nitric oxide foods I’ve created a popular YouTube video. Just click here to watch! For those who would prefer to read let me share the following information:

Most research indicates that for you to receive a therapeutic benefit from L-arginine you need to consume at least 5 grams of this amino acid at one time. So I selected 4 nitric oxide foods that I thought would be common food choices.  I did the math conversions to look at how much of these nitric oxide foods you would need to eat to take in 5 grams of L-arginine.  I also looked at the number of calories and grams of fat it would bring into your body.  Peanuts provide the smallest quantity of food but they pack on 70 grams of fat and 918 calories.  Beans, tuna, or chicken breasts are your better choices but you would need to consume at least:

  • one can of beans or
  • two cans of tuna or
  • almost 1 pound of chicken to get a therapeutic benefit.

The other amino acid is L-citrulline. There is not much of a choice in nitric oxide foods for this amino acid.  Watermelon is your one and only good food choice.  Unfortunately, 60% of the L-citrulline is contained in the rind portion of the watermelon which most people never eat.  You would have to eat over a pound of watermelon to get even close to the amount of L-citrulline your body would need for a therapeutic benefit.

When people realize all the food they need to eat, and the limited menu they have to choose from, they begin to ask the question:

Is it better to get these critical amino acids through nitric oxide foods or supplementation?

Comparing costs between nitric oxide foods and supplementation, your total daily food cost could range from $2.50 to $7.00 depending on whether it’s organic or processed food.  Your supplement cost is usually around $2.00 or less.

So supplementation costs you less and doesn’t have the added concern of fat grams and calories to your diet.  You just need to make sure you choose a good supplement company because the quality of the L-arginine and L-citrulline makes a huge difference.  To help you better understand this please click on my YouTube video.

How Long Will Nitric Oxide Foods Provide a Benefit?

Now, I need to make one more important point about nitric oxide foods and supplements as it applies to these two amino acids.

When you bring in a therapeutic level of L-arginine, it typically results in a 30 minute to 2 hour window of improved nitric oxide production.  When you combine your L-arginine with L-citrulline, you increase this therapeutic production of nitric oxide to 24 to 36 hours.  This has huge health benefits in helping you to control your blood pressure and repairing the damage done to the endothelium.

This is so important that the 1998 Nobel Laureate Dr. Louis J. Ignarro had this to say in his 2005 bestseller NO More Heart Disease:

Any supplement program that does not contain L-citrulline and antioxidants to augment the L-arginine – and most on the market do not – is missing out on a major piece of the potential of nitric oxide to improve your cardiovascular health.”

Learning how to properly nourish, heal, and support your endothelium through proper nitric oxide foods and supplements is a much more cost effective way in reducing the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.  This is especially important for those who have high blood pressure.  Since 33 percent of the American adult population has high blood pressure, and 25 percent are in the pre-hypertensive condition, choosing nitric oxide foods and supplements could be a tremendous health strategy for the prevention of heart disease.

Together we can work to save a million lives by teaching them the benefits of nitric oxide foods!

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology.  He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicago area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam.  The information about nitric oxide foods has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Nitric Oxide and Cardiovascular Health!

If you want to improve your overall health, and the health of your loved ones, then you need to understand the relationship between nitric oxide and cardiovascular health.  It’s absolutely critical because you could not live without nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system.
You’ve most likely never been counseled by your physician about the importance of nitric oxide and cardiovascular health.  Yet there is an overwhelming amount of research that validates the tremendous role nitric oxide plays in your body.  Here is just a sample of several prominent physicians and researchers with their comments about nitric oxide and cardiovascular health:

Dr. John Cooke – Director of Vascular Medicine at Stanford University and author of the book, The Cardiovascular Cure:

This book will introduce you to the magic that is inside your blood vessels.  It comes in the shape of a molecule, one of the simplest molecules found in nature. This molecule is nitric oxide, or NO, a substance so powerful that it can actually protect you from heart attack and stroke. Best of all, your body can make it on its own.  NO is your body’s own built-in, natural protection against heart disease.”

Dr. Louis J. Ignarro – 1998 Nobel Laureate in Medicine and author of the book, NO More Heart Disease:

Though NO’s structure is simple, nitric oxide is now regarded as the most significant molecule in the body, absolutely crucial to your well-being. I am convinced that nitric oxide can age-proof your cardiovascular system, keeping it much fitter than your chronological age would indicate.”

Repairing the damage wrought by cardiovascular disease without risky and often ineffective surgery had long been considered impossible.  I was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for making that thinking obsolete. Now we know we can reverse cardiovascular impairment naturally – with the body’s internally manufactured ‘wonder drug,’ nitric oxide.”

Dr. Jonathan S. Stamler – Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center:

It does everything, everywhere. You cannot name a major cellular response or physiological effect in which [nitric oxide] is not implicated today. It’s involved in complex behavioral changes in the brain, airway relaxation, beating of the heart, dilation of blood vessels, regulation of intestinal movement, function of blood cells, the immune system, even how fingers and arms move.”

Three of the most prominent doctors in America all talking about the importance of nitric oxide and cardiovascular health.  How this amazing molecule plays such a significant role in your overall health.  The production of nitric oxide is a vital function of your endothelium, which lines all of your cardiovascular system.  In fact, the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who discovered how the endothelial cells produce nitric oxide from the amino acid L-Arginine.  Since its discovery much has been learned about nitric oxide.  For example:

  • Nitric oxide regulates the muscle tone of blood vessels to have a major impact on controlling blood pressure.
  • Nitric oxide stops blood platelet cells from grouping together in a clot to help prevent blockages in the blood vessels.
  • Nitric oxide controls the action of almost every orifice from swallowing to defecation.
  • Nitric oxide helps the immune system fight viral, bacterial and parasitic infections as well as tumors.
  • Nitric oxide causes penile erections by dilating blood vessels to help in erectile dysfunction.
  • Nitric oxide transmits messages between nerve cells.
  • Nitric oxide seems to be associated with the process of learning, memory, sleeping, feeling pain, and maybe even depression.
  • Nitric oxide has been shown to be a mediator in inflammation and rheumatism.
  • Nitric oxide promotes vascular reparative mechanisms when injury occurs.  It is one of the keys to reversing atherosclerosis.

To help you understand the significance of nitric oxide and cardiovascular health, let’s focus on two key cardiovascular issues.

Nitric Oxide and Cardiovascular Health – High Blood Pressure!

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31.3 percent of the U.S. adult population has high blood pressure.  That represents almost one out of every three adults.  Add to this fact that another 25 percent of American adults have prehypertension – blood pressure numbers that are higher than normal, but not yet in the high blood pressure range – and you have over half the American adult population affected by this cardiovascular disease.

This represents a staggering cost in human life and a significant financial drain.  In 2006, high blood pressure was listed as the primary or contributing cause of death for 326,000 Americans.  The estimated cost in 2010 for health care services, medications, and missed days of work was $76.6 billion.

The typical treatment program for most people with high blood pressure can be a combination of diet, exercise, stress management techniques, and medication. For many who opt for the medication route, it’s estimated that 26 percent still do not have their hypertension under control. Since many medications also have some form of side effect it can be a frustrating journey trying to get your blood pressure under control.

Enhancing the body’s ability to produce nitric oxide is seldom considered yet Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine Dr. Louis Ignarro makes the following statement regarding nitric oxide and cardiovascular health:

More effective than any other factor in the body, nitric oxide can dilate the smooth muscle of the blood vessels.  With this dilation, the vessels can relax and allow blood to flow easily through them – and quite possibly lower the blood pressure.”

Nitric oxide is the body’s most powerful vasodilator and causes the smooth muscle of the vascular wall to relax.  This regulates your blood pressure and the health of your endothelium controls this process.  Properly nourishing and repairing your endothelium so that it can properly produce nitric oxide is a natural way to help maintain normal blood pressure.

Nitric Oxide and Cardiovascular Health – Strokes and Heart Attacks!

When you have a blood clot that causes a blockage in the brain we call it a stroke and when that blockage occurs in the heart it’s called a heart attack. According to the American Heart Association’s website 87 percent of all strokes are ischemic strokes. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot forms in the bloodstream.  This blood clot then lodges within an artery of the brain causing a blockage.  This blockage reduces the necessary blood flow to that section of the brain leading to damage or death to those brain cells.  The amount of damage determines the severity of the stroke.  This same scenario applies to your heart.  Add to this the following statistics:

  • 77% of Americans treated for a first stroke had high blood pressure!
  • 69% of Americans who experienced a first heart attack had high blood pressure!

As you can see the prevention of strokes and heart attacks really centers on addressing high blood pressure and reducing the potential for the formation of blood clots.  Your body does this naturally through nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system. Nitric oxide causes two very specific events or reactions to occur.

Nitric oxide keeps blood platelet cells from sticking together. This helps to prevent blood clots from occurring in the vascular system, thereby reducing the risk for strokes and heart attacks.

Nitric oxide is your body’s most powerful vasodilator to relax the smooth muscle of your vascular wall to properly control blood pressure. This improves blood flow and directly addresses the number one risk factor for strokes and heart attacks.  Additionally, your endothelium is a critical component in the regulation of your blood pressure by controlling the response of your vascular wall to the changing pressures within your cardiovascular system.

Nitric Oxide and Cardiovascular Health – Conclusion!

While there is much more that can be said about nitric oxide and cardiovascular health it is very evident that many of the cardiovascular issues facing the American population could be addressed through the proper production of nitric oxide.

Learning how to properly nourish, heal, and support your endothelium through proper nutritional supplementation, diet, and exercise would be a much more cost effective and life enhancing way then the current approach taken today.  As stated at the beginning of this article, nitric oxide is critical to your cardiovascular health.

Together we can work to save a million lives!

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology.  He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicago area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam.  The information about nitric oxide and cardiovascular health has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Endothelial Health Equals Cardiovascular Health!

When was the last time anyone ever asked you about your endothelial health?

NEVER!

It’s estimated that there are approximately 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the adult body.  These blood vessels include arteries, veins, and capillaries.  They are all protected by a microscopic inner lining of endothelial cells, which are commonly called the endothelium.  It’s important to note that these cells line the entire circulatory system from the inside of your heart all the way down to your smallest capillary.  When added up, the volume of these endothelial cells would cover the surface area of 4 to 8 tennis courts depending upon the size of the individual. That’s amazing since the endothelium is only one cell thick and can’t be seen by the human eye.

Once discovered the endothelium was classified as an inert membrane whose primary function was to keep the blood in the circulatory system and out of the body’s tissues and organs. Research over the last 25 years has shown that your endothelium is an active, multi-functional organ that plays a vital role in metabolic, immunologic, and cardiovascular health. Your endothelium is now considered to be the single largest secreting organ in the body.

Endothelial health is so important that the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who discovered how the endothelium converts the amino acid L-arginine into nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system.

Endothelial Health and Its Life Enhancing Functions!

Because endothelial cells line every blood vessel they play an important role in the proper function of every organ in your body.  The following is a list of the known functions of the endothelium.  Each function plays an important role in endothelial health, cardiovascular health, and your overall wellness:

  • Angiogenesis – The formation of new capillaries is called angiogenesis and is regulated in part by the endothelium. Endothelial health is extremely important in wound healing.  It also plays a significant role in muscle creation and in the heart’s ability to develop collateral vessels.  These collateral vessels can help lessen the impact of a blood vessel blockage in the heart by providing alternative routes for blood flow.
  • Blood Flow – Your endothelium helps to facilitate blood flow. It does this by providing a smooth surface that inhibits platelet adhesion and clotting.  It also tries to inhibit foreign substances from adhering to its cellular wall, which can lead to plaque formations.  Large molecules like LDL (bad) cholesterol and/or toxic substances like nicotine damage the intercellular junctions between the endothelial cells allowing deposits to build up.  This causes the smooth and flexible lining of your blood vessels to become rough and hard to directly impact endothelial health.

It’s these plaque formations that are at the heart of atherosclerosis. As this process continues over time, the deposits or plaques become larger which narrows the interior of the blood vessel making it harder for blood to pass through.  This increases resistance to blood flow, which can cause your blood pressure to increase. The following factors can damage the endothelium and increase these formations:  smoking, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension or high blood pressure, and inflammation. Elevated homocysteine levels have also been associated with premature atherosclerosis and can effect endothelial health and function.

Atherosclerosis was once thought to be irreversible but new studies clearly show that when the proper biochemical environment is provided the injured endothelium can return to its undamaged state. Proper supplementation with L-arginine, the precursor for nitric oxide, has been shown to diminish lesion formation, reverse endothelial dysfunction, and lead to improved endothelial health.

  • Blood Clotting – The narrowing of your blood vessels also causes blood turbulence that can lead to the formation of blood clots.  These blood clots, if large enough or if they pass through too narrow of an opening, can eventually lodge themselves in a blood vessel causing a blockage. When this happens in the heart we call it a heart attack.  When it
    happens in the brain it is called a stroke.

The endothelial cells produce a molecule called nitric oxide, which inhibits platelet adhesion, activation, secretion and aggregation, and promotes platelet disaggregation. This is extremely important in preventing blood clots in the vascular system to lessen the risk for heart attacks and strokes. It’s also a critical factor in sickle cell anemia to help prevent sickle cells from adhering to each other and clinging to the vascular walls.  This helps to prevent blockages, which cause most of the pain and tissue damage associated with sickle cell anemia.

While using nitric oxide to prevent blood clotting, it’s interesting to note that the endothelial cells are also necessary for blood to clot. They synthesize the vitally important molecule called Factor VIII or von Willibrand’s Factor, which is essential for blood clotting.  Without this molecule a person could bleed to death from a simple scratch.

  • Blood pressure – Not only do the endothelial cells provide a dynamically-controlled structural barrier between the circulating blood and surrounding tissues and organs but they also produce signaling molecules that influence vasodilation and vasoconstriction. Vasodilation causes blood vessels to relax allowing for greater blood flow.  This reduces blood pressure. Vasoconstriction causes blood vessels to tighten reducing blood flow and causing blood pressure to increase.

It’s currently believed that the endothelial cells are the controlling factor in the regulation of blood pressure. They produce both nitric oxide, which is the most potent vasodilator, and Endothelin-1 the most potent vasoconstrictor. The proper production of nitric oxide is fundamental to maintaining normal blood pressures, which means that endothelial health is critical to helping you maintain normal blood pressures.

  • Specialized barrier function – Endothelial cells act as selective filters to regulate the passage of gases, fluids, and various molecules across their membranes.  For example, in the brain and retina the endothelial cells are tightly linked together to create a barrier that only allows selective molecules to pass through it.  In the liver, spleen, and bone marrow, the endothelial cells are loosely linked allowing for cellular trafficking between their intercellular gaps.  However, in the kidneys, endocrine glands, and intestinal villi, the endothelial cells have a different type of selective permeability to allow for efficient filtering, secretion, and absorption based on that organ’s function.

Endothelial health is also critical to the proper function of your immune system. Your white blood cells or leucocytes are produced in the bone marrow.  They travel through the blood stream where the endothelial cells facilitate their passage into your body’s tissue to allow them to destroy foreign agents or antigens.  This gate-keeping role varies for each organ system but is dependent upon endothelial health and function.

Endothelial Health Is Critically Important!

It’s amazing that a simple lining of cells on the interior walls of your blood vessels could have such a profound affect on your
cardiovascular health and overall wellness.  Yet that’s exactly the case with your endothelial cells.  Endothelial health is critical to your health and your body’s ability to produce nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system.  When impaired, endothelial dysfunction has been linked to the following diseases:

  • Diabetes
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Arteriosclerosis
  • Heart Disease
  • Stroke
  • Hypertension
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Lupus
  • Scleroderma
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • ALS
  • Parkinson’s
  • Hypercoagulation of Blood, Thrombosis, Clotting Disorders
  • Renal Failure
  • Metabolic Syndrome including Abdominal Obesity and Insulin Resistance
  • Sleep Apnea
  • Glaucoma

That’s quite a list of diseases. Properly bringing in a good source of L-arginine, combined with good eating and lifestyle habits like those found in the Mediterranean diet, can help reverse damage to the endothelium and improve endothelial health. This means that your choices have a direct impact on endothelial health, which impacts cardiovascular health and all the diseases listed above.

It also means that you have the ability to prevent most of these diseases by focusing your attention on ways to improve your endothelial health and function. We’ll look at this in our next article especially as it applies to proper nitric oxide production.

Together we can work to save a million lives by concentrating on endothelial health!

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology.  He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicago area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam. The information about endothelial health has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent and disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Cardiovascular Health for Women!

If you search cardiovascular health for women on Google you will obtain 17 million results.  Search breast health for women and you will obtain almost 41 million results.  Almost 2.5 times more results for breast health over cardiovascular health for women, yet American women are 4 to 6 times more likely to die of heart disease than of breast cancer.

This is not to say that breast cancer information isn’t important or to discount all the work done to bring this to the attention of our society.  It’s vitally important.

But so is targeted information for cardiovascular health for women.  This information is so important that it has the potential to save even more lives than any other health education program, especially when there is a natural solution.

Cardiovascular Health for Women Could Save Millions of Lives!

So I’m on a mission to educate women in this area.  A mission that has the potential to save millions of lives from the number one cause of death for both men and women worldwide.

As I was gathering information for this article I came across the following quote from Kofi Annan, the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize Winner:

When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.”

What a profound and true statement.  Women are caregivers to their family, friends, and eventually to themselves.  I would like to educate you in this area of cardiovascular health for women so that you can take care of yourself as well as your family and friends. Together we can help save millions of lives from cardiovascular disease and illness. We can help them live vibrant and healthy lives by paying attention to the core problem of most cardiovascular disease.

I’ve always found the best place to start any journey is at the beginning.  We need to see where we are at to better understand where we need to go.  Here are some startling statistics from a wide variety of experts in the area of cardiovascular health for women.

According to FamilyDoctor.org:

  • Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women over 65 years of age.
  • Heart disease kills more women over 65 years of age than all cancers combined.

According to the Mayo Clinic:

  • Although heart disease is often thought of as a problem for men, more women than men die of heart disease each year.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality:

  • Experts estimate that one in two women will die of heart disease or stroke, compared with one in 25 women who will die of breast cancer.

Cardiovascular Health for Women Starts With The Endothelium!

The message is clear.  It is time to pay attention to cardiovascular health for women.  Most people think we need to place our attention on heart health.  While this is important, it is not the root cause of most cardiovascular disease.  According to the American Heart Association 2004 Heart and Stroke Statistical Update, arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis accounted for nearly 75% of all deaths from heart disease.

Arteriosclerosis is hardening of the arteries.  Atherosclerosis is plaque formations building up inside the vascular system.  Cardiovascular health for women really centers on your vascular system more than your heart.  The key to your vascular system is the health of your endothelium.

What!  You’ve never heard of the ENDOTHELIUM!

It doesn’t surprise me since most people have never heard of this organ.  Yet the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researches that discovered how this organ converts an amino acid called L-arginine into nitric oxide, which is the master signaling molecule for your entire cardiovascular system. You could not live without nitric oxide and it’s your endothelium that controls its production. Both are critically important if we are to achieve improvements in cardiovascular health for women.

Please join me for my next article as I help you discover this Nobel Prize Winning Science about an organ that actually controls most of your cardiovascular system.  It’s the key to saving a million lives.  It’s the organ that needs attention if improved cardiovascular health for women and their loved ones is to change the health of America and our world.

Together we can share how cardiovascular health for women could save a million lives!

Dan Hammer

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology.  He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicago area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam.  The information about cardiovascular health for women has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Stroke Prevention Centers on Two Key Factors!

Stroke Prevention Centers on Two FactorsLearning how to address two key factors could make a big difference in stroke prevention. Since stroke is the number one cause of adult disability and the third leading cause of death in the United States, addressing this issue of stroke prevention could be the difference between life or death and permanent disability or significant recovery. 

The health of your cardiovascular system is just as important to brain health as it is to heart health. If you have a blockage in one of the arteries of the heart we call it a heart attack. If that same blockage occurs in the brain it’s a stroke.  

In reviewing both the uncontrollable and controllable risk factors for a stroke, it’s quiet clear that the health of your endothelium and its ability to properly produce nitric oxide can play a critical role in stroke prevention. 

Why? 

Because the number one risk factor for a stroke is high blood pressure and the blockage that causes the stroke is many times related to a blood clot. 

Address These Two Risk Factors for Stroke Prevention! 

High blood pressure increases your stroke risk 4-6 times. It’s the number one risk factor for a stroke and you have the power to positively impact this area. Addressing this issue alone would make a major impact on stroke prevention. 

According to the American Heart Association’s website 87 percent of all strokes are ischemic strokes. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot forms in the bloodstream. This blood clot then lodges within an artery of the brain causing a blockage. This blockage reduces the necessary blood flow to that section of the brain leading to damage or death to those brain cells. The amount of damage determines the severity of the stroke.  

As you can see by these two specific factors, stroke prevention really centers on addressing high blood pressure and reducing the potential for the formation of blood clots. Your body does this naturally through nitric oxide. 

Nitric Oxide is Key to Stroke Prevention! 

The 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who discovered how the endothelium (which lines all of your cardiovascular system) produces a gas called nitric oxide from the amino acid L-arginine. Outside your body nitric oxide is considered an environmental pollutant. Inside your body nitric oxide is the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system.  

A signaling molecule helps a specific event to occur. Without signaling molecules certain events cannot take place. Regarding your cardiovascular system, nitric oxide causes three very specific events or reactions to occur. They are: 

  1. Nitric oxide keeps blood platelet cells from sticking together. This helps to prevent blood clots from occurring in the vascular system, thereby reducing the risk for strokes and heart attacks. 
  2. Nitric oxide is your body’s most powerful vasodilator to relax the smooth muscle of your vascular wall to properly control blood pressure. This improves blood flow and directly addresses the number one risk factor for strokes. Additionally, your endothelium is a critical component in the regulation of your blood pressure by controlling the response of your vascular wall to the changing pressures within your cardiovascular system. 
  3. Nitric oxide, when at therapeutic levels in the bloodstream, can repair damage to the endothelium and seems to be associated with the body’s ability to reverse and eliminate plaque formations. Plaque formations, which typically result when the endothelium is damaged, cause the inside of your vascular system to narrow, which can lead to high blood pressure and the increased risk for blockages. 

Nobel Laureate in Medicine, Dr. Louis J. Ignarro refers to nitric oxide as “the body’s natural cardiovascular wonder drug.” Learning how to naturally heal and nourish your endothelium to help it properly produce therapeutic levels of nitric oxide could be a huge factor in stroke prevention. 

Learn How to Nourish Your Endothelium for Stroke Prevention! 

The easiest and fastest way to nourish your endothelium for improved nitric oxide production is to use a properly formulated nutritional supplement. Even Dr. Oz is now talking about the importance of nutritional supplementation for improved cardiovascular function. Unfortunately, Dr. Oz only talks about the amino acid L-Arginine and leaves out another critical amino acid, as well as the necessary quantities needed to achieve a therapeutic effect. 

There is a lot that could be said in this section but let me summarize the basics on how to nourish your endothelium: 

  1. L-Arginine – This amino acid is critical because it is what your endothelium uses to create nitric oxide. However, you need to consume 4-6 grams of L-arginine at one time to be able to achieve a therapeutic increase in nitric oxide. 
  2. L-Citrulline – This amino acid is considered by vascular researchers to be just as importance as L-Arginine. You need to consume 200 to 1000 mg to have a therapeutic effect. The reason why L-Citrulline is so important is that it recycles L-Arginine to turbo charge the production of nitric oxide over a longer period of time. Additionally, L-Citrulline provides an alternative pathway for the production of nitric oxide when the enzyme arginase is present. Arginase destroys L-Arginine and some population groups such as African Americans have larger quantities of arginine in their bloodstream. This can negatively effect nitric oxide production if L-Citrulline is not part of their diet. 
  3. Various Antioxidants – Whenever your body produces energy through aerobic respiration free radicals are formed. Free radicals are unstable molecules that can cause cellular damage. Free radicals will also negatively effect nitric oxide to limit its signaling and healing capacities. Antioxidants are molecules that can stabilize free radicals to prevent cellular damage and their negative effects on nitric oxide.  

It is estimated that 750,000 Americans will experience a stroke this year. Yet according to the National Stroke Association “… 80% of strokes are preventable!” While they list other methods for stroke prevention I hope this information will help you to see and understand the importance of a healthy endothelium and its ability to properly produce therapeutic levels of nitric oxide. This really is a viable way for stroke prevention as well as improved cardiovascular function. 

If you found this information helpful then please share this on Facebook and Twitter. You can also contact me directly if you have questions or need a recommendation for a high quality nutritional supplement that can help to properly nourish your endothelium for improved nitric oxide production. 

Together we can work to save a million lives by helping to educate others about endothelial cell health and how therapeutic levels of nitric oxide can directly address two of the greatest risk factors for stroke prevention.

Dan Hammer 

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology. He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicagoland area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.  

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam. The information about stroke prevention has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Prevent Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes!

Cardiovascular Complications of DiabetesDiabetes has grown to epidemic proportions and so have the cardiovascular complications of diabetes. According to the most recent statistics (2011) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes. However, what makes this “America’s largest healthcare epidemic” is that 79 million Americans are in a pre-diabetic condition, where their blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. 

This means that 35% of the American population is either in a pre-diabetic or diabetic condition and this is creating an enormous health challenge. Even just being pre-diabetic raises a person’s risk for heart disease and stroke. High blood sugar causes oxidative stress or damage to your endothelium resulting in the following cardiovascular complications of diabetes: 

  • Poor Circulation Leading to Lower-Limb Numbness and Amputations
  • Poor Kidney Function
  • Cardiovascular Disease
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Increased Potential for Strokes and Heart Attacks  

Two Most Devastating Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes! 

While the cardiovascular complications of diabetes are staggering, there are two that pose the greatest risk to a person’s health and longevity. Statistics can change over time but these two have been pretty consistent. They are: 

  • 66% of Diabetics Have High Blood Pressure!
  • 66% of Diabetics Die From a Heart Attack or Stroke! 

Two-thirds of all diabetics are confronted with this daily reality. It is why Dr. J. Joseph Prendergast, a noted clinical expert in this area, made the following statement: 

Many people still think diabetes is a disease about sugar. It’s not the sugar! It’s the complications!” 

Dr. Prendergast is not discounting the need to control your blood sugar. That’s critically important. What he’s trying to get people and the medical profession to understand is that unregulated glucose (blood sugar) causes high levels of oxidative stress, which directly damages the endothelium and its ability to properly produce nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system. To prevent the cardiovascular complications of diabetes you must repair this damage, and any future damage, to the endothelium. 

How to Address Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes! 

To address the cardiovascular complications of diabetes you must put in place a program to repair and properly nourish your endothelium. This program is in addition to learning how to control your blood sugar levels. Both are equally important. Unfortunately little is done in the area of endothelial cell health.  

Why? Because most people have never heard of the endothelium and most physicians do not understand how to treat it. Briefly, your endothelium lines all of your cardiovascular system. It is only one-cell thick yet it regulates many of the functions of the cardiovascular system.   

This area is so important that the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who discovered how your endothelium converts the amino acid L-arginine into nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system. 

How Nitric Oxide Impacts Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes! 

Nitric oxide impacts cardiovascular complications of diabetes in two extremely specific ways. First, nitric oxide regulates the muscle tone of blood vessels to have a major impact on controlling blood pressure. In fact, nitric oxide is your body’s most powerful vasodilator. It causes the smooth muscle of your vascular wall to relax. This helps to reduce blood pressure by improving blood flow through the vascular system.  

Since 66 percent of all diabetics have high blood pressure, by improving their ability to properly produce nitric oxide you can aid them in better regulating their blood pressure. Because high blood pressure is the major cause of a stroke you will also help them to substantially reduce this risk. 

Second, nitric oxide keeps blood platelet cells from grouping together to form a clot. This helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes. According to Nobel Laureate in Medicine Dr. Louis J. Ignarro, nitric oxide:  

. . . is produced by the body specifically to help keeps arteries and veins free of the plaque that causes stroke and to maintain normal blood pressure by relaxing the arteries, thereby regulating the rate of blood flow and preventing coronaries. Nitric oxide is the body’s natural cardiovascular wonder drug.”  

This means that you can use proven and natural methods to address these two specific issues of cardiovascular complications of diabetes. Proper supplementation with therapeutic levels of the amino acids L-arginine and L-citrulline can have a profound effect on repairing and properly nourishing your endothelium for therapeutic increases in nitric oxide production. This would help millions of diabetics to reduce their risks for these cardiovascular complications of diabetes.  

Additional Resources to Help You Understand How to Address the Cardiovascular Complications of Diabetes! 

To help you better understand how the endothelium impacts your cardiovascular health, please click here. 

To help you better understand how the endothelium controls blood pressure, please click here. 

To help you better understand how nourishing and repairing your endothelium will improve its ability to properly improve nitric oxide, and how this directly impacts many of the cardiovascular complications of diabetes, please click here. 

By directly putting into place a plan of action that will improve endothelial cell health and function, especially in the area of improved nitric oxide production, you can substantially reduce the risk for the two major cardiovascular complications of diabetes.  If you found this information helpful then please share this on Facebook and Twitter. 

Together we can work to save a million lives by helping to educate others about endothelial cell health and how therapeutic levels of nitric oxide can directly address the two greatest cardiovascular complications of diabetes. 

Dan Hammer 

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology. He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicagoland area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.  

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam. The information about cardiovascular complications of diabetes has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

How to Compare L-Arginine Supplements!

L-Arginine supplements have long been a part of the world of body building and strength training. Just recently Dr. Oz has been talking about L-Arginine supplements for cardiovascular health. Because of this there is a growing interest in the general public about L-Arginine supplements. Unfortunately, not all of the correct information is being given to help consumers figure out how to choose the best L-Arginine Supplements to help them with their cardiovascular health.  

This Video Provides Guidelines on How to Compare L-Arginine Supplements! 

There are five key areas to consider when you’re choosing L-Arginine Supplements. They are: Ingredients, Price, Quality Assurance, Clinical Studies, and Guarantee. This video covers all five areas and will be a definitive guide for helping you choose the best in L-Arginine Supplements.

 

Properly Formulated L-Arginine Supplements Create Nitric Oxide! 

The main reason for taking L-Arginine Supplements is to effectively create nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system. As you learned in the video above your endothelium, which lines all of your cardiovascular system, is a multi-functioning organ. It’s involved in metabolic, immunologic, and cardiovascular functions. One of its primary functions is to properly produce nitric oxide. 

Specific to your cardiovascular system, nitric oxide is critically important for the proper regulation of blood pressure, helps to prevent strokes and heart attacks by keeping blood platelet cells from sticking together, and helps to repair the endothelium to keep it healthy and free from plaque formations and calcification. For men, nitric oxide is needed for an erection. No nitric oxide no sex! 

As this Nobel Prize winning information is finally reaching the general public there has been an ever increasing interest in L-Arginine supplements. But not all L-Arginine supplements are equally effective in creating nitric oxide. 

Key Questions to Ask in Choosing L-Arginine Supplements! 

If you want to improve the health of your endothelium and nourish it properly for improved nitric oxide production, then choosing your L-Arginine supplements is critical to helping you achieve positive results. Here are six key questions to ask in making your choice on L-Arginine supplements: 

  1. Does it include L-citrulline? If it doesn’t, then you’re wasting your time and money. 
  2. Does it include sufficient amounts of both L-arginine and L-citrulline to create a synergistic and therapeutic benefit? According to Dr. Ignarro you need 4-6 grams of L-arginine and 200 to 1000 mg of L-citrulline to have a therapeutic effect. Anything less and you’re not going to get improved nitric oxide production. 
  3. What are the quality-control standards set by the manufacture? This is important to guarantee consistency and potency in the manufactured product. 
  4. Who is the product formulator and do they have experience in L-Arginine / L-Citrulline therapy? 
  5. Does the L-Arginine Supplement have any clinical studies to back up its effectiveness?
  6. Does the L-Arginine Supplement offer a 100% Money Back Satisfaction Guarantee? 

I hope this information on L-Arginine supplements will help you cut through the wild claims made by product manufacturers, because this area of natural health can help you improve your cardiovascular health.  

It is important to note that Nobel Prize winning science has clearly shown nitric oxide to be the body’s natural cardiovascular wonder drug. Now it’s important to choose the L-Arginine supplements that will help you achieve the highest therapeutic benefit for your cardiovascular system.  

Together we can work to save a million lives! 

Dan Hammer 

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology. He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicagoland area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.  

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam. The information on how to compare L-arginine supplements has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Foods and Supplements for Nitric Oxide!



Nitric Oxide Molecule

The latest health trend has been the emerging science of nitric oxide production.

While foods and supplements for nitric oxide production has been part of the body building world, it’s now becoming popular for cardiovascular health. 

It’s about time!

The 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American researchers who discovery on how your endothelium, which lines all of your cardiovascular system, converts the amino acid L-Arginine into nitric oxide – the master signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system. Recently, Dr. Oz has been promoting L-Arginine supplementation has a key factor for improving cardiovascular health.

While L-arginine is critical to nitric oxide production, the amino acid L-citrulline is also extremely important. In fact, most nitric oxide researchers will tell you that L-Citrulline is equally, maybe in more important, than L-Arginine. The reason why is L-Citrulline recycles L-Arginine to have a synergistic effect on extending the endothelium’s ability to properly produce nitric oxide. Here’s the difference between L-Arginine alone versus the two in combination with each other:

  • If you consume a therapeutic level of L-Arginine you will typically get a 30 minute to 2 hour window of improved nitric oxide production resulting in a small window of improved circulation.

     

  • If you combine your L-Arginine with a therapeutic level of L-Citrulline then you will increase this window of improved nitric oxide production to a 24 to 36 hour window. That’s huge especially in helping to repair your endothelium for long term improvements in your circulation.

Dr. Louis J. Ignarro, one of the 1998 Nobel Laureates in Medicine, established the following quantities needed for these two amino acids. According to Dr. Ignarro you need 4-6 grams of L-Arginine and 200 to 1000 mg of L-Citrulline to have a therapeutic effect. Anything less and you’re not going to get improved nitric oxide production. The following video will help you understand how much food this represents. It was originally done for our series on sickle cell anemia but it directly applies to this discussion.

Foods That Contain L-Arginine, L-Citrulline, and Folic Acid for the Creation of Nitric Oxide! 

 

As you can see by the above video food brings with it a cost in both quantity and calories. The following video helps to take this information and compare it to the dollar cost of using supplementation to help create a therapeutic level of nitric oxide production.

Food vs. Supplementation for the Creation of Nitric Oxide! 

 

Clearly supplementation is a more cost effective approach to addressing improved nitric oxide production. I’m in the process of preparing a new video to help you properly analyze this growing world of nitric oxide supplements. It will help you ask the right questions and look for the right information so that you can choose supplements that will give you great value and lead to real improvements to the cardiovascular system.  

If you’re interested the product I highlighted at the end of the above video, then please check out ProArgi-9 Plus. It’s a clinically proven product that can repair and nourish the endothelium for improved nitric oxide production leading to significant cardiovascular improvements. 

Together we can work to save a million lives through the most cost effective method for the creation of nitric oxide! 

Dan Hammer 

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology. He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicagoland area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.  

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam. The information about foods and supplements for nitric oxide has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.

Dr. Oz on L-Arginine!

 

Dr. Oz on L-Arginine

Recently Dr. Oz has emphasize the need for L-Arginine supplementation for improved cardiovascular health and overall wellness. Here is a recent video of both Dr. Oz and Dr. Mercola talking about how important L-Arginine is in maintaining the flexibility and integrity of the vascular system. Most of Dr. Oz and his discussion on L-Arginine is in the second half of this video:

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/alternative-health-controversy-pt-3 

If you watched and listened to Dr. Oz and Dr. Mercola, they only talk about the essential amino acid L-Arginine. Technically they are correct from the standpoint of your endothelial cells using L-Arginine to create nitric oxide. Because nitric oxide relaxes the smooth muscle of the vascular wall to help maintain proper blood pressure, keeps blood platelet cells from sticking together to prevent heart attacks and stroke, and repairs the damage done to the endothelium to prevent atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis, what Dr. Oz tells us about L-Arginine is critically important. But there are some other ingredients that need to be part of the equation, especially if you want to create nitric oxide in sufficient amounts to be therapeutic to your cardiovascular system. 

Dr. Oz, L-Arginine, and an Additional Key Ingredient! 

One of those ingredients needs to be the amino acid L-Citrulline. L-Citrulline recycles L-Arginine to have a synergistic effect on extending the endothelium’s ability to properly produce nitric oxide. Here’s what I mean. 

If you consume a therapeutic level of L-Arginine you will typically get a 30 minute to 2 hour window of improved nitric oxide production resulting in a small window of improved circulation. 

What Dr. Oz doesn’t tell you is critically important. If you combine your L-Arginine with a therapeutic level of L-Citrulline then you will increase this window of improved nitric oxide production to a 24 to 36 hour window. That’s huge especially in helping to repair your endothelium so that you can heal your vascular wall for long term improvements in your circulation. 

This means that you need both of these amino acids in sufficient quantities to truly obtain a benefit. To help you better understand this I’d like to provide two quotes from Dr. Louis J. Ignarro. Dr. Ignarro won the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine, along with two other American researchers, for discovering how your endothelium converts the essential amino acid L-Arginine into nitric oxide – the most powerful signaling molecule of your entire cardiovascular system. These quotes are taking from his 2005 bestseller NO More Heart Disease. 

My research shows that L-arginine in doses smaller than 4 to 6 grams produces almost zero increase in NO, so it is in essence an ‘all or nothing’ proposition – you must receive the full dose of L-arginine.” 

It is the synergy between the L-arginine (in a large enough dose), the L-citrulline, and the key antioxidants that creates dramatic increases in your body’s nitric oxide production. Without the proper combination of these nutrients, which so many other programs lack, you will receive little to no benefit from NO therapy.” 

Dr. Oz Doesn’t Tell You How Much L-Arginine to Use! 

While there is more I could say about additional ingredients, here are the two most important factors you need to consider in evaluating an L-Arginine product: 

  1. Does it include L-Citrulline? If it doesn’t, then you are wasting your time and money.
  2. Does it include sufficient amounts of both L-Arginine and L-Citrulline to create a synergistic and therapeutic benefit? According to Dr. Ignarro you need 4-6 grams of L-Arginine and 200 to 1000 mg of L-Citrulline to have a therapeutic effect. Anything less and you’re not going to get improved nitric oxide production. 

According to Dr. Ignarro, “Nitric oxide is the body’s natural cardiovascular wonder drug.” But for you to get a therapeutic effect to aid you in improving the health of your cardiovascular system, then you need to be taking both L-Arginine and L-Citrulline in sufficient quantities.  

There’s much more that could be said about the creation of nitric oxide; such as the need for Folic Acid and other antioxidants to enhance nitric oxide production over a long period leading to therapeutic benefits. I’ve prepared two videos to help you better understand this. My next post will highlight these two videos. The first video covers which foods will help you obtain L-Arginine, L-Citrulline, and Folic Acid since these three are critically important in helping your endothelium properly produce nitric oxide. The second video will cover whether it is better to get your L-Arginine, L-Citrulline, and Folic Acid through food or supplementation.

If you would like to order Dr. Ignarro’s book NO More Heart Disease then please click here!  

Together we can work to save a million lives by help to education others about what was said by Dr. Oz on L-Arginine but also including the other key nutrients for improved nitric oxide production! 

Dan Hammer 

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry, and exercise physiology. He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicagoland area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years.  

The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and never as a substitute for professional medical advice or medical exam. The information about Dr. Oz on L-Arginine has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a qualified medical doctor.