The Rest of the Story

Hopefully this post will complete this discussion series about Nitric Oxide, the important role it plays in cardiovascular health, and the amino acid, L'Arginine, that produces it in our bodies.  These final elements are also vital to a balanced Arginine product.

There is no question about the vast array of benefits our bodies receive from antioxidants.  There is a paradox with the French.  They eat more saturated fat but have less cardiovascular disease.  The antioxidants in red wine are suspected as being protective.  So am I telling you that you need to drink red wine in order to be health?  No, you don't have to drink red wine to compete with the French.  Actually OPC's from grape seed are excellent antioxidants!  Red grape juice is also a good source.  It is extremely important to note that LDL (or the bad cholesterol) must be oxidized to be inserted in plaque.  With antioxidants, they stay out of plaque!  Vitamins C, B, and E are also antioxidants. 

What are antioxidants?  They are simply substances that protect your cells against the effects of free radicals.  Free radicals are chemically active atoms or molecular fragments that have a charge due to an excess or deficient number of electrons.  Because they have one or more unpaired electrons, free radicals are unstable.  They scavenge your body to grab or donate electrons, thereby damaging cells, proteins, and DNA (genetic material).  The same oxidative process also causes oils to become rancid, peeled apples to turn brown, and iron to rust.  Free radicals arise from sources both inside and outside our bodies.  Free radicals are produced when your body metabolizes food, from inflammation, or by environmental exposures like tobacco smoke, pollution or radiation.  Our antioxidant systems are not perfect, so, as we age, cell parts, damaged by oxidation, accumulate.   Free radicals can damage cells and play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases.  Oxidation is the number one enemy in our bodies that causes disease.

Fulvic Minerals are also essential.  They are complete spectrum minerals.  They are processed by plants to the ionic or atomic level.  The Fulvic delivery system ensures complete absorption.  Fulvic Minerals increase enzyme activity, stimulate the immune system and aid in the assimilation and utilization of nutrients.  In other words, Fulvic Minerals have the ability to help us get all this other "stuff" into our system quicker and more effectively.  What you take in is not nearly as important as what you absorb, thus the importance of Fulvic Minerals.

Additional Fulvic Mineral benefits are:

• They increase oxygen in the blood
• They act as a free radical scavenger
• They supply vital electrolytes to your cells
• They restore electrical balance to your cells
• They enhance and transport cell nutrients.

All very important benefits, indeed!

The final ingredient(s) that complete any nutritional product naturally are super juices.  One of the benefits of super juices is they are antioxidants.  The first four that I will discuss (briefly), when taken from the very best sources that are available, gives you a tremendously potent source of antioxidants; however, L'Arginine itself is better than all of them as an antioxidant.

Super juices are broad spectrum antioxidants, they contain phyto-nutrients with multiple health benefits.  Phyto-nutrients, by definition, are those plant compounds which are thought to have health-protecting qualities.  In other words, they don't know how to explain it scientifically but they know they work.

•  Mangosteen Juice helps lower LDL cholesterol, helps prevent hardening of the arteries, helps regulate blood sugar level, helps reduce pain from arthritis, helps with allergies, helps reduce inflammation and lowers fever and helps strengthen the immune system and fight free radicals.
• Himalayan Goji Juice (the best source), helps maintain normal blood pressure, helps maintain normal cholesterol, helps maintain normal blood sugar, helps improve vision and supports eye health, helps boost the immune system, helps with menopause symptoms, helps with a chronic dry cough and helps strengthen muscles and bones.
• Brazalian Acai Juice (again, the best source), has essential minerals, helps improve energy and stamina, helps improve digestion, helps improve restful sleep, helps improve sexual functionk, helps maintain normal cholesterol levels and helps boost the immune system.  
• Tahitian Noni Juice helps decrease allergy symptoms, helps with depression, helps decrease arthritis symptoms, helps improve breathing, helps improve digestion, helps decrease high blood pressure and helps sharpen memory and increase clarity and awareness.  Mental clarity could mean that it would be good for dementia or alzheimers.

The final point I would like to make about this series is that the best form that any nutrient can be taken is liquid.  Why liquid?  First, for improved absorption.  The Physician's Desk Reference (PDR), which contains prescription drug information resources and includes dosages, interactions and side effects, and is widely used by the medical community, states that pills may only be 20% absorbed.  So, if one was to take a 5 gram pill of Arginine, 20% would only give 1 gram of absorption.  That would mean you would need to take 25 pills in order to get 5 grams of absorption.  Secondly, powders may not dissolve completely, and, thirdly, in order to avoid "pill fatigue".  Pill fatigue is a condition occurring over time to chronically ill patients who have to take a lot of medication, in which the patient stops taking pills because of the stress and monotony of constant pill swallowing.  With a liquid, you get the maximum absorption and, thus, the maximum benefit.

A word of warning:  when you decide to research L'Arginine on the web, you will likely come across an article from the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) discouraging the use of Arginine based on a very lopsided study where L'Arginine alone was given to patients who had just had heart attacks and some deaths did occur.  The important thing to note here is that these patients were not given an Arginine product balanced with the other ESSENTIAL ingredients.  It is not recommended to take L'Arginine without other ingredients to balance it's effects.

And that's the Rest of the Story!

More Good Stuff

To continue our discussion of just what is contained in a balanced Arginine product . . . . .

We've discussed what the amino acid L'Arginine is and how it creates Nitric Oxide in your body and what that miracle molecule does for you.  We talked about the fact that it must be a balanced product for it to function correctly and be the most beneficial for health.  Vitamin D3 was the first ingredient we discussed . . in itself, a miracle drug, indeed.

Another ingredient in a balanced Arginine product is your B vitamins.  B vitamins help improve the function of NOS - the enzyme that makes Nitric Oxide.  Studies show that women who consume more B vitamins have half the risk of heart disease.

B vitamins also help rid the body of Homocysteine, which is a compound that builds up in B Vitamin deficiency.  Homocysteine is an amino acid produced by the body, usually as a byproduct of consuming meat.  Homocysteine is made from another amino acid, methionine, and then in turn is converted into other amino acids.  Elevated levels of homocysteine in the blood appear to make for an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.  If you have a blood test and you look at Homocysteines, you have a good way of seeing if you have enough Vitamin B in your system.  Too much Homocysteines reduces the amount of Vitamin B.  Homocysteines inhibit the action of Nitric Oxide and they also may generate free radicals - causing oxidative damage.

The next ingredient in a balanced Arginine product is Omega 3.  Omega 3's are anti-inflammatory, they make blood vessels more pliable, they improve endothelial function, they enhance the production of Nitric Oxide, they increase HDL (the good cholesterol) and decrease LDL (the bad cholesterol). 

Do you see the connection with these ingredients and what Arginine does?  Most of the time you think of Omega 3's as coming from fish oil but there is always the possibility of mercury poisoning with fish oil.  There are good plant sources of Omega 3's as well.  Perilla oil and flax oil are good sources.  The anti-inflammatory properties of Omega 3's are very important.  If you've ever been diagnosed with anything whose name ended in "-itis" (that's ITIS), that denotes inflammation:  for example:  arthr-itis.

Next is EDTA.  Intravenous studies are underway by the National Institutes of Health.  EDTA has been available in oral form for years.  EDTA is a heavy metal scavenger.  It is unclear it's exact mechanism in atherosclerosis, but it has been proven to have an affect.  EDTA is a natural chelator.  Many doctor's have used IV chelation for years.  If someone is exposed to heavy metals via an accident, etc., those metals will show up in their urine, hair and blood; and IV chelation would be used to remove them.  If those metals are not removed and are allowed to sit in the body, they begin to settle in the body's major organs and may not show up in urine, hair, and blood.  The problem still exists, however, and deterioration of those organs result and ultimately destruction.  One example is heavy metal toxicity in the brain.

As I mentioned before, you can readily see how the ingredients I've discussed work hand in hand with Arginine and support it's function in the body.  There are still a few more ingredients to discuss as we discover more good stuff. . .