Jan
25
2020

Nitric Oxide (NO) Can Provide You With Energy

By | depression, diet, Inflammation, Nutrition

Dr. Nathan S. Bryan explained that nitric oxide (NO) can provide you with energy. His presentation was given at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas from Dec. 13 to 15, 2019 that I attended. Dr. Bryan worked at the Department of Human Genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. In his 20 years of research he asked the following questions:

  • How does the human body produce NO?
  • There are people who cannot make NO; what went wrong in these people?
  • What are the clinical consequences when NO is missing?
  • How do you fix or restore your inborn NO production?

Mental disease is also closely related to heart disease and to strokes. Over 44 million patients in the US have a mental illness. Mental disease and heart disease are linked by the fact that both have higher rates of heart attacks and strokes. Marc de Hert et al. published a paper entitled: “The intriguing relationship between coronary heart disease and mental disorders”.

Mental health and heart disease related

Mental health and heart disease are related. Both show increased heart attack rates  and strokes. But there is another important finding: sexual dysfunction is common among psychiatric patients. The sexual dysfunction among schizophrenic patients was related to both the psychobiology and the pharmacotherapy. Emotional and sex-related problems were  more common in a patients group who experienced poor physical and emotional health.

Another finding that shows the importance of normal circulation is peripheral artery disease (PAD). A group of people with depression had an increase in PAD.

SPECT scans of brains as a tool to investigate circulation

SPECT stands for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography. It is a tool that Dr. Amen has used for years to study the brain.  He found, for instance that with chronic marijuana use the brain circulation develops deficiencies where certain parts of the brain are not properly perfused. This is associated with certain brain malfunctions. When the patient is rehabilitated the blood circulation to the brain gradually recovers. Dr. Bryan noted that there is a decrease in blood flow with every chronic disease. If we can restore blood flow to the region in the brain where where there is a blood flow disturbance, we can cure many neurological diseases.

Restoration of circulation with nitric oxide (NO)

Dr. Bryan showed vignettes of improved body circulation with systemic nitric oxide therapy. One example was that nitric oxide supports a healthy blood pressure. At the same time nitric oxide also improves endothelial function. A 13% increase in blood vessel diameter increases blood flow by 34%!

Thermographic images show a 49-year-old smoker with Raynaud disease in the hands. Within 10 minutes after nitric oxide application the poorly circulated fingers showed a sudden opening up and normal perfusion to the fingers.

Nitric oxide can repair skin damage

Before and after pictures showed the effect of anti-aging skin care serum with nitric oxide. The anti-aging skin care serum improved skin texture, increased elasticity, evened skin tone, restored moisture, reduced fine lines and wrinkles and created tighter and smoother skin. A chronic skin ulcer on a woman’s right chin disappeared in a matter of a few weeks and healed with hardly any scar formation.

Here are some final remarks on nitric oxide replacement

Dr. Bryan concluded with these remarks: Nitric oxide governs vascular structure and function. NO production undergoes an age-related decline. This leads to cardiovascular risks and neurological disorders. Restoring NO production improves tissue perfusion and vascular function. Strategies of nitric oxide production will positively affect general health and the aging process. Any anti-aging strategy should include nitric oxide as a tool.

Nitric Oxide (NO) Can Provide You With Energy

Nitric Oxide (NO) Can Provide You With Energy

Conclusion

Dr. Bryan gave a good overview of how nitric oxide (NO) can help people to improve their complexion, their perfusion, and how cardiac and neurological disorder can be prevented. Before and after pictures showed the effect of anti-aging skin care serum with nitric oxide. The anti-aging skin care serum improved skin texture, increased elasticity, evened skin tone, restored moisture, reduced fine lines and wrinkles and created tighter and smoother skin. A chronic skin ulcer on a woman’s right chin disappeared in a matter of a few weeks and healed with hardly any scar formation.

But these are only examples about skin appearance. Perhaps the more important aspect of nitric oxide is the repair of the lining of the arteries and the improvement of circulation to various organs. Nitric oxide can even prevent neurological disease with regular consumption.

Dec
01
2008

Disease Of Peripheral Blood Vessels Occurs With Metabolic Changes

By | Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Prevention, Weight loss

Metabolic syndrome has serious health consequences: diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease are just a few conditions that are associated with it. It is also known that diabetic patients are prone to pressure sores and ulcers of their feet and if the leg became gangrenous, the patient would lose it due to the need to amputate. Peripheral artery disease or PAD has recently been studied by Dr. Aruna D. Pradhan, and the prospective study involved 27,000 women. At the beginning of the study the middle aged women were free of cardiovascular disease, but a quarter of them had the hallmarks of metabolic syndrome. Twenty five percent of those with the condition also were diabetic. During the 13 years of follow-up 114 women developed peripheral artery disease and those patients with metabolic syndrome were 62% more likely to develop the disease. The individuals with metabolic syndrome had other features: they were less likely to exercise, more likely to smoke and their weight was higher. But 7,000 women with metabolic syndrome had another important feature in their lab tests: they had markedly higher levels of biomarkers of systemic inflammation, which was manifested in higher levels of C-reactive protein.

Disease Of Peripheral Blood Vessels Occurs With Metabolic Changes

Metabolic syndrome causes peripheral artery disease

 

 

Once all the criteria are stacked up against each other, it becomes obvious that the presence of metabolic syndrome alone is not responsible for the most significant increase in peripheral artery disease. It is not the high cholesterol levels or the high triglyceride readings that are the villains in this condition. The driving force is systemic inflammation, as documented by the high C-reactive protein levels in blood tests.

More information about hardening of arteries: http://nethealthbook.com/cardiovascular-disease/heart-disease/atherosclerosis-the-missing-link-between-strokes-and-heart-attacks/

American Heart Association, New Orleans, Nov. 8 to 12, 2008

Last updated Nov. 6, 2014

Mar
01
2004

Ankle Blood Pressure Reveals Diabetic Problems

By | Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Prevention, Stroke

One of the complications of diabetes is that ity leads to clogged arteries from peripheral artery disease and this can lead to heart attacks, strokes and circulation problems in the legs.

Recommendations were recently given to physicians in the December edition of the medical journal Diabetes Care that circulation problems in diabetics need to be monitored more stringently to avoid needless amputations.

Medically these circulation problems that affect mainly lower legs and feet are known as “peripheral vascular disease” (or PVD for short). PVD can be detected by the physician checking for ankle pulses. Another valuable and very simple test is to measure the blood pressure in the arm and at each ankle (using the stethoscope just under the inside (medial) ankle bone. If there is a major discrepancy between the arm and ankle blood pressure or if the ankle pulse is missing, this would be a sign of possible PVD. With a diabetic patient it would still be important to get the hemoglobin A1C under control through exercise, a low glycemic diet and possibly anti-diabetic medication. But the patient likely would have to be referred to a cardiovascular surgeon for further testing in order to find out whether there would be hardening of the arteries with circulation problems in the lower leg, the ankle or foot.

Ankle Blood Pressure Reveals Diabetic Problems

Ankle Blood Pressure Reveals Diabetic Problems

Dr. Peter Sheehan, the director of the Diabetes Foot & Ankle Center at the New York University school of medicine, stated that many patients and doctors overlook how frequent this condition is. About 33% of diabetic patients who are older than 50 years have PVD, but only a fraction know about it until it is too late. Once a patient has PVD in one of the legs there is a 4-fold risk of getting a heart attack or a stroke, because the hardening of the arteries is happening simultaneously in all of the body’s arteries. If the blood pressure is normal at the ankle, Dr. Sheehan recommends to check it again in 5 years.

Who should have the blood pressure check at the ankle? Here is a table that summarizes Dr. Sheehan’s recommendations.

Which diabetic needs the ankle blood pressure check?
High risk group: Remarks or more detail:
Anyone with leg PVD* symptoms legs tired or hurting when walking
Young diabetics
with other risks		 smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes present for more than 10 years are such risk factors
diabetics 50 years of age and over particularly when the hemoblobin A1C is high and other risk factors are present
*PVD = peripheral vascular disease

Why is it so important to screen for circulation problems in the lower legs? Because this is the area where diabetics tend to get problems that often result in amputations of a foot or lower leg below the knee. With early detection of these problems and intervention by a cardiovascular surgeon often disastrous outcomes can be avoided.

More info is available at:

Diabetes: http://nethealthbook.com/hormones/diabetes/type-2-diabetes/

High blood pressure: http://nethealthbook.com/cardiovascular-disease/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/

Last edited October 26, 2014