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Archive for Endothelium

Can L-arginine and Nitric Oxide Help With Alzheimer’s Disease?

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 05/08/2021
Can L-arginine and Nitric Oxide Help With Alzheimer's Disease

In today’s article I want to examine L-arginine, nitric oxide and Alzheimer’s Disease. Currently, there are approximately 6 million people in the United States with this disease.

This age-related neurodegenerative disease is characterized by memory impairment and cognitive issues that become more severe as time passes. Which causes increasing stress and health related challenges for both the patient and their family members.

And while there is currently no effective strategy to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s Disease, every study that I know of that improves blood flow to the brain improves cognitive function.

Maybe a better understanding of L-arginine and nitric oxide can help provide a way to lessen the impact of this disease.

(If you would prefer to view this information in a video format, then please click on my YouTube video below:)

L-arginine in a semi-essential amino acid. What this means is that your body can create this amino acid but not in sufficient quantities to fuel all the metabolic pathways that it’s needed for.

Because of this you need to consume additional food sources or nutritional supplements for this critically important amino acid.

L-arginine fuels 7 different metabolic pathways, but the two most critical ones are: Read More →

Update on CoVid19 and Endothelial Health

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 05/01/2021
update-on-covid19-and-endothelial-health

As more and more research is being done on the CoVid19 virus, one of the areas of focus has been on the lining of the vascular system.

This lining is called the endothelium.

It’s only one-cell thick. But it actually regulates most of your cardiovascular health.

To give you an idea how large this tissue is, there is approximately 60,000 miles to the average vascular system. This includes all your arteries, veins, and capillaries. Lining all of this is the endothelium. If you took it out, and laid the endothelium on the ground, it would cover the surface area of a football field.

That’s a lot of surface volume.

(If you would prefer to view this information in a video format, then please click on my YouTube video below:)

Dr. William Li, who is a vascular biologist and the founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation, compared the endothelium to a freshly resurfaced ice skating rink before a hockey game. Smooth ice that allows the players and puck to glide smoothly.

However, the CoVid19 virus has an effect on the enthelium. In Dr. Li words,

“When the virus damages the inside of the blood vessel and shreds the lining, that’s like the ice after a hockey game. You wind up with a situation that is really untenable for blood flow.”

Dr. Li and his researchers came to this conclusion when they compared the lung tissues of people who died from CoVid19 to those who died from influenza. CoVid19 patients had nine times as many tiny blood clots when compared to influenza patients. And the endothelial lining of the blood vessels of the lungs were severely injured.

A normally functioning endothelium helps to: Read More →

2 Primary Pathways for Nitric Oxide

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 04/22/2021
Primary Pathways for Nitric Oxide

In your cardiovascular system there are two primary pathways for the creation of nitric oxide. They are:

  • The Nitrate Nitrite Pathway
  • The Endothelial Pathway

Today we’ll examine each so that you can better understand how to harness the benefits of nitric oxide for improved cardiovascular health.

(If you would prefer to view this information in a video format, then please click on my YouTube video below:)

Both of these pathways are valid for the creation of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a signaling molecule.  It’s used by your vascular system to improve blood flow. This molecule has three primary benefits:

First is vasodilation, which relaxes the smooth muscles of the blood vessels so that they expand. This improves the deliver of oxygen and nutrients.  As well as aids in the removal of cellular waste. And, it can be a natural way to lower blood pressure back into the normal range.

Additionally, men cannot have an erection without nitric oxide so sexual health is also dependent on your nitric oxide levels.

Second, nitric oxide keeps blood platelet cells from sticking together, which naturally reduces your risk for strokes and heart attacks.

Third, nitric oxide helps to initiate repair mechanisms to keep the lining of your vascular system, what is call the endothelium, healthy and functioning.

Now, let me give you an overview of each pathway. Then at the end, I’ll give you my opinion on which pathway can benefit you the most. Read More →

5 Natural Ways to Increase Nitric Oxide

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 04/15/2021
Natural Ways to Increase Nitric Oxide

Today I want to help you understand the top 5 natural ways to increase nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a signaling molecule used throughout your body. A signaling molecule causes something else to occur.

Because of this nitric oxide is critical to your overall health. In fact, you could not live without nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide is used by your immune system, nervous system, and cardiovascular system.

(If you would prefer to view this information in a video format, then please click on my YouTube video below:)

Most of the research around nitric oxide centers on the cardiovascular system. Its primary function is vasodilation. Nitric oxide relaxes the smooth muscles of the blood vessels. This allows them to widen for improved blood flow.

Improved blood flow increases the delivery of oxygen and nutrients while also improving the removal of cellular waste products.

This means that every organ, and health system in your body, can benefit from improved nitric oxide production.

Let me list the 5 natural ways to increase nitric oxide and then we’ll spend some time looking at each:

  • Eat Vegetables High in Nitrates
  • Limit The Use of Mouthwash
  • Use Nitric Oxide Boosting Supplements
  • Increase Your Intake of Antioxidants
  • Increase Your Heart Rate Through Exercise

In your vascular system there are two primary pathways for the creation of nitric oxide. My next video/article will help you understand these pathways. For now they are: Read More →

Top 5 Health Benefits of Pistachios

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 03/22/2021
Health Benefits of Pistachios

Of all the consumable nuts available, my favorite is pistachios. Because of this I thought I would examine the top 5 health benefits of pistachios.

Ancient history records the consumption of pistachios as far back as 7,000 BC. Both the Queen of Sheba and Nebuchadnessar, the king of ancient Babylon, considered this nut a royal food. And when you examine its nutritional profile you can see why.

(If you would prefer to view this information in a video format, then please click on my YouTube video below:)

One ounce of pistachios contains the following:

  • 159 Calories

  • 8 grams of Carbohydrate

  • 3 grams of Fiber

  • 6 grams of Protein

  • 13 grams of Fat of which 90% are unsaturated

  • 6% of the RDA for Potassium

  • 28% of the RDA for Vitamin B6

  • 21% of the RDA for Thiamine or Vitamin B1

  • 41% of the RDA for Copper

This nutritional profile fuels the following 5 health benefits of pistachios. Read More →

CoVid19 and Endothelial Health

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 11/08/2020
CoVid19 and Endothelial Health

My daughter sent me an article from NPR that talks about CoVid19 and endothelial health. The title of the article is “Clots, Strokes And Rashes. Is COVID-19 A Disease Of The Blood Vessels?”

As more and more research is being done on the CoVid19 virus, one of the areas of focus has been the lining of the vascular system.

This lining is call the endothelium.

It’s only one-cell thick. But it actually regulates most of your cardiovascular health.

To give you an idea how large this tissue is, there is approximately 60,000 miles to the average vascular system. This includes all your arteries, veins, and capillaries. Lining all of this is the endothelium. If you took it out and laid the endothelium on the ground it would cover the surface area of a football field.

That’s a lot of surface volume.

Dr. William Li, who is a vascular biologist and the founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation, compared the endothelium to a freshly resurfaced ice skating rink before a hockey game. Smooth ice that allows the players and puck to glide smoothly.

However, the CoVid19 virus has an effect on the enthelium. In Dr. Li words,

“When the virus damages the inside of the blood vessel and shreds the lining, that’s like the ice after a hockey game. You wind up with a situation that is really untenable for blood flow.”

Dr. Li and his researchers came to this conclusion when they compared the lung tissues of people who died from CoVid19 to those who died from influenza. CoVid19 patients had nine times as many tiny blood clots when compared to influenza patients. And the endothelial lining of the blood vessels of the lungs were severely injured.

A normally functioning endothelium helps to: Read More →

Vitamin D and Heart Health

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 05/15/2020
Vitamin D and Heart Health

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about CoVid19 and Vitamin D Deficiency. Today I want to focus on vitamin D and heart health.

Additional studies are showing how optimizing your vitamin D intake can help to prevent both heart disease and stroke. And it seems to do this by:

  • Improving endothelial function

  • Reducing arterial stiffening

Vitamin D does this by increasing your endothelium’s ability to create nitric oxide. Nitric oxide dilates your blood vessels to improved blood flow.

Additionally, vitamin D helps to decrease the destructive chemical compound called peroxynitrite, which can cause inflammation that leads to arterial stiffness.

Researchers at the Nanomedical Research Laboratory at Ohio University conducted a study that examined this relationship between nitric oxide and peroxynitrite. For simplicity, please remember the following:

  • Nitric oxide is good

  • Peroxynitrite is bad

In their study, the researcher introduced a human hormone called angiotensin-II. This hormone causes endothelial dysfunction. The result was a decrease in nitric oxide and an increase in peroxynitrite.

When vitamin D3 was introduced, this was significantly reversed. There was a 10 fold increase in nitric oxide and a 10 fold decrease in peroxynitrite.

This study suggests that by maintaining normal levels of vitamin D in your blood stream, you can help to maintain normal endothelial function. This helps your body to properly produce nitric oxide for improved blood flow.

And, normal levels of vitamin D help to prevent the destructive peroxynitrite, which can cause vascular inflammation that leads to arterial stiffness.

So the question becomes:

How much vitamin D to you need to take to see a benefit? Read More →

Blueberry Polyphenols Reduce Heart Disease

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 04/22/2020
Blueberry Polyphenols Reduce Heart Disease

Several recent studies have shown how blueberry polyphenols reduce heart disease risk factors. Specifically these polyphenols inhibit the formation of foam cells that lead to atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fatty deposits called plaque that narrows the arterial wall. The vast majority of heart disease is associated with this process. In fact, here is a simple overview of what happens:

  • The process starts when monocytes (a type of white blood cell) adheres to the endothelial cells that line your arterial walls.

  • These monocytes invade this one cell thick lining and develop into macrophages.

  • Macrophages are used by your body to engulf oxidized LDL cholesterol.

  • The accumulation of oxidized LDL particles in the macrophages form foam cells.

  • Foam cells then stimulate the body to produce smooth muscle cells and excess connective tissue, which leads to the narrowing of the inside of the artery or atherosclerosis.

If these foam cells are stable, then the risk for a stroke or heart attack is lower. But if these foam cells are inflamed, then the risk for a heart attack or stroke is significantly increased.

Given the above progression, there are two key points to stop the formation of plaque. One is to prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. This is where a diet high in antioxidants can play a major role.

And blueberries are high in antioxidants.

The second area is were the polyphenols come in. Blueberries are rich in two types of polyphenols: Read More →

NO More Heart Disease Book Review

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 02/08/2020
No More Heart Disease

The book NO More Heart Disease by Nobel Laureate in Medicine Dr. Louis J. Ignarro was key to helping me understand the power and effectiveness of nitric oxide therapy.

Back in 2008 I first came upon this concept of using nitric oxide to improve blood flow.

While my background is exercise physiology, I had never heard of what has become know as “The Miracle Molecule.”

I had been told that nitric oxide would help me improve my workouts and athletic performance. At that time I still played competitive indoor soccer at the age of 55. He was in a men’s over 40 league. And when I consistently used ingredients that would help me optimize my nitric oxide production, what I experienced was greater endurance on the soccer court.

More importantly I didn’t have soreness the next day after a competitive match.

I then got my wife to address her high blood pressure with nitric oxide. Prior to taking ingredients that would help optimize this Miracle Molecule, her blood pressure averaged 160 over 90. Within one week her blood pressure lowered to 112 over 68 and has been at this level ever since.

My experience, and the experience of my wife, prompted me to learn about this remarkable molecule for vascular health.

Enter NO More Heart Disease

The book that was recommended to me (and I recommend it to you) was Dr. Ignarro’s book called NO More Heart Disease. It was originally published in 2005 but I feel it is still the best book written to date to help people understand how significant this molecule is to their health.

In fact, Dr. Ignarro makes no bones about it. He firmly believes nitric oxide is key to your health.

If you look at the cover of his book, then you will see the subtitle, which states: Read More →

To Stent Or Not To Stent

Posted by Dan Hammer //
 11/22/2019
To Stent or Not To Stent

To stent or not to stent has recently become public news with the release of the ISCHEMIA study. This study has create headlines like this one from The Washington Post:

“Stents and bypass surgery are no more effective than drugs for stable heart disease, highly anticipated trial results show”

or this headline from CBS News:

“Medication and lifestyle changes could be as effective as surgery for heart disease, trail finds”

This newly released trial was led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Stanford University. They looked at over 5,000 patients who had heart blockages but were stable. And what they found can be summarized as follows:

  1. Placing a stent in a patient with stable blockages could improve a patient’s quality of life by reducing their symptoms like chest pain.

  2. But when compared to taking medications or implementing lifestyle changes, stenting didn’t lower their risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Needless to say this study has caused a significant reaction in the medical community. According to Harvard Medical School “about 600,000 people in the United States undergo an angioplasty to widen a narrowed coronary artery, nearly always with a tiny wire mesh tube (stent) left inside the artery to keep it open.”

This is not an inexpensive procedure.

To Stent or Not To Stent – The Numbers

The average cost for this procedure (angioplasty with the placement of a stent) is around $29,000.

This means that this medical procedure is a 17.4 billion dollar industry. It’s a major income stream for both interventional cardiologist and hospitals.

In response to the release of this study Elliot Antman, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital made the following statement:

“The ISCHEMIA trial shows that an early invasive approach does not protect patients against death or the overall chance of a heart attack, but does effectively relieve chest pain – the more chest pain a patient has, the more likely they are to benefit.”

Now before we demonize interventional cardiologist and hospitals it’s important to note the following key words that apply to this trial:

“. . .who had heart blockages but were stable.”

Stable heart blockages is the key piece of information.

Going back to the Harvard Medical School they estimate that approximately “two-thirds of these procedures are done in people experiencing a potentially life-threatening event – a heart attack or unstable angina, defined as severe, worsening chest pain during exertion or stress, or chest pain that happens at rest.”

One-third of 600,000 is 198,000 people who might find other alternatives like medications and lifestyle changes to be as effective as stenting in keeping themselves alive. That could be a 5.7 billion dollar savings per year.

To Sent or Not To Sent – What is Stable Heart Blockages

Most vascular blockages are due to a process called atherosclerosis. This usually starts with very low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) being oxidized by free radicals. This creates inflammation and damage to the endothelium resulting in plaque formation. Over time this plaque continues to grow, which narrows the inside of the artery.

There is usually a fibrous cap to this plaque. This fibrous cap provides structure to the plaque.

However, unstable plaque or vulnerable plaque has a thin fibrous cap usually formed from a collection of white blood cells and lipids like bad cholesterol. And if free radical damage is continuing to occur, then the resulting inflammation makes this cap even more vulnerable for a rupture.

This rupture can then form a blood clot, or release cellular debris, that can then lead to a blockage resulting in a heart attack or stroke. If you remember Tim Russert from Meet The Press, then his heart attack and death would be a good example of this process.

There are certain biomarkers that can help you and your physician determine the increased probability of plaque being unstable. They are:

c-Reactive Protein

Oxidized LDL

Both of these are due to inflammation. Oxidized LDL is usually due to free radical damage.

Which gives a strong clue to lifestyle changes that can address this. One lifestyle change would be to significantly increase your intake of fruits, vegetables, and herbal extracts that are powerful antioxidants.

As well as eliminating as many omega 6 fatty acids from your diet and replacing them with omega 3 fatty acids.

Sugar and highly processed foods also contribute to vascular inflammation.

These 3 lifestyle changes can significantly improve your health while reducing the potential for oxidized LDL and vascular inflammation. All of which can help to stabilize any plaque in the vascular system.

And as I’ve share multiple times in previous articles, nitric oxide therapy can help to vasodilate the vascular system for improved blood flow. This would then help those who are experiencing chest pain and angina.

Blessing Lives Through Nitric Oxide Therapy!
Dan Hammer
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