Magnesium and Heart health

Heart disease

Sometimes being on top of the list may not be so good. Heart disease as one of the leading killers of men and women in the U.S. is just such a case.

The recommended prevention methods are to stop smoking, lower your cholesterol levels, manage your weight and lower your high blood pressure. 1

If only life was as easy as the Nike® trademark JUST DO IT®. Life is complex, and solutions are often hard to come by and even harder to implement. In our search for solutions, we often neglect simple and easy stuff that work effectively.

One of these simple steps is paying attention to the  magnesium level I your diet.

Magnesium and Heart

Studies suggest that increase in your dietary magnesium intake and lowered risk of coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death.

Part of the reason for this is the role of magnesium in maintaining the normal rhythm of the heart.

In a hospital setting and under serious conditions, there isn’t time to take magnesium pills. Magnesium is given through the IV to reduce the chance of atrial fibrillation and irregular heartbeat that is cardiac arrhythmia.

Before you get too excited, remember that many diseases are the results of long term behavior pattern and chronic nutritional deficiencies.

Studies show results, but we neglect to pay attention to the details. For example, in one study magnesium orotate reduced both the symptoms and survival rates of those who were taking this supplement vs. those who were taking the placebo.

The duration of the study was for one year. It takes that long for you to change a behavior pattern or bring nutritional deficiencies back into balance.

There are thousands of chemical reactions in your body that work together and influence each other. In the case of magnesium, calcium is needed in precise ratios. As you look at each molecule, you’ll find out that anther, and then another and then another come into play.

Soon, you’ll realize that trying to fix disease related nutritional deficiencies one molecule at a time makes no sense.

A holistic approach provides a better chance of prevention and recovery.

With a holistic approach comes whole foods and whole foods in purest sense of more bang for the nutritional buck is fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are rich in magnesium and calcium along with potassium in precise ratios that has taken nature millions of years to develop to help you live a healthy, happy and long life.

 

L-arginine

Natural forms of amino acid L-arginine is found in animal based products like red meat, poultry, fish, and dairy as well as plant-based products such as nuts, seeds, oats, beans and wheat germ are good plant-based sources of arginine. Andthere are plenty of manufacturers who make it in their labs.

Mayo Clinic  lists therapeutic dosages of L-arginine for anything from altitude sickness and asthma to  coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes, exercise performance and transplants.

L-arginine converts in the body to nitric oxide that is a vasodilator.

It is used to improve the health of the heart and blood vessels. Dilatation of blood vessels can relieve the symptoms of pain related to blood restrictions. Keeping blood vessels pliable could also contribute to improved health of those who suffer from congestive heart failure and high blood pressure.

Your blood vessels are like a garden hose. When you squeeze them, the stream narrows, and the pressure goes up.  When you relax them, the stream widens, and the pressure drops. Relaxed blood vessels lower blood pressure and L-arginine can help.

Restriction in the blood flow to your legs cause pain, to the penis causes erectile dysfunction and to the brain causes decreased mental capacity.  When you think about it, as we age, we experience all of these symptoms.  Healthy blood circulation contributes to improving all three.

L-arginine will interact with other medications which are designed to lower blood pressure including Capoten), enalapril (Vasotec), losartan (Cozaar), valsartan (Diovan), diltiazem (Cardizem), Amlodipine (Norvasc), hydrochlorothiazide (HydroDiuril), furosemide (Lasix), and many others.

Together they may lower your blood pressure too much and cause some mild and serious conditions. On the milder side, you have dizziness and lightheadedness that may contribute to falls.

Other medications that increase the blood flow to the heart like nitroglycerin or isosorbide will also interact with L-arginine.

And of course other medications that increase the blood flow to the penis like Sildenafil(Viagra) will also interact with L-arginine.

The question you have to ask yourself is this. Why not plan a nutritious diet that includes thousands of known healthy compounds like L-arginine that help your entire body including your blood circulation instead of relying on medications that always have harmful side effects and only deal with one symptom at a time?

When I visit my health care professionals, I always try to find out if they know of natural alternatives. You may be pleasantly surprised how often they know of natural alternatives that at least could lower the needs for medications.