Protect your heart and lower your blood pressure in a new way....

Today's Post:  Tuesday, 3-11-2014

I.  In tiny quantities, when your body releases nitric oxide in your blood vessels they relax and become more flexible.  Your blood pressure goes down and your blood which now flows more freely and your circulation improves as a result. 

We already know that taking the amino acid l-arginine helps your body do this and to release growth hormone for repairs.  And, it’s been found that taking the amino acid l-citrulline does also AND works as a catalyst to make l-arginine more effective in doing so.

A new article in Medical News Today recently had three additional pieces of information.

1.  Very small quantities of H2S, hydrogen sulfide when released, also cause the release of NO, nitric oxide.   They do this more in the presence of a specific enzyme. 

2.  There are two ways that a heart attack causes damage.  It cuts off circulation to parts of the heart with a clot blocking the blood vessel.  And, when the circulation is restored, the sudden restart also causes damage.  Having high NO is protective in both cases they found.  (Of course if NO is high and the blood vessel is flexible, the clot is less likely to get caught up or stay long too which prevents some heart attacks and makes others far milder.)

So having high NO both prevents damage from high blood pressure and makes heart attacks less likely; and it helps minimize the damage in two ways also when there is a heart attack.

3.  We don’t yet know what causes that enzyme to be high or how to boost it with a drug or genetic treatment.  But it’s clear I think that having a robust intake of foods high in sulfur likely helps. 

Garlic not only does help this effect, it may help release this enzyme, because it has been tested to increase blood vessel flexibility and lower high blood pressure. Eating garlic also lowers high triglycerides.  So it likely also reduces the small particles of LDL that build up and block your blood vessels.

Eating onions also lowers high triglycerides.  So it likely helps with lowering the small particles of LDL.  And, onions may be even higher in sulfur than garlic.

Eating egg yolks from pasture fed --naturally fed chickens also delivers a lot of sulfur AND it boosts HDL due to its high supply of choline.  So egg yolks also likely cut down on the small particles of LDL that build up and block your blood vessels.  And, the choline and other B vitamins in egg yolks also have brain and nerve growth supporting effects.

Raw cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, and many more are also high in sulfur.

In these vegetables, when eaten raw, their sulfur compounds help prevent or kill cancer cells.

II. Regular, vigorous exercises, done most days of every week have been shown to boost HDL, reduce triglycerides, and directly lower your small particle LDL.

Exercise also tends to increase blood flow and relax blood vessels.  And people test as having lower blood pressure on the days they exercise.  So regular exercise too helps increase the protective effects of any NO release.

III. This also suggests that besides taking aspirin early in a likely heart attack, it may also help

if you have a likely heart attack and are still conscious and at home near  your supplements and already take the amino acids arginine and citrulline to help boost your NO production, taking extra might help. 

And eating garlic or taking garlic supplements may also help.

IV.  Here’s the info from the article and the link to the original.

"We found that hydrogen sulfide regulates the body's production of nitric oxide which, in turn, protects the heart muscle against cell death," notes Dr. Lefer.

Working in a mouse model, the researchers discovered the interdependence between the two molecules. When an enzyme that produces hydrogen sulfide was absent, they found that the production and action of nitric oxide were greatly reduced, resulting in increased oxidative stress and more severe injury to the heart and liver from blocked blood flow as well as from the eventual restoration of blood flow.

New treatment target discovered by heart attack researchers

http://mnt.to/l/4kvW

Research led by David Lefer, PhD, Professor and Director of the Cardiovascular 

Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of 

Medicine, demonstrates for the first time...