Cardiovascular Health

Cardiovascular health is all about the transport of blood which carries oxygen and nutrients from our heart and lungs to nourish individual cells. Our focus here is to look at common problems and identify the role of nutrition to both help and prevent problems.

A healthy body will have blood that is able to flow smoothly throughout our body. To achieve this, the processes that manufacture blood will ensure that the liquid plasma, red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells that form our blood are made seamlessly. Good blood can bring oxygen and nutrients to cells so that our cells can function at their best.

Common problems include poor red blood cell formation caused by low levels of nutrients especially iron and vitamins B12 and folate which can be tested and treated by your GP. A problem often ignored is how easily blood flows. Certain antioxidants such as grape seed proanthocyanidins (OPC) promote blood flow and in doing so can help normalise blood pressure. Antioxidants are especially important as they reduce oxidative stress (free radical damage) in blood vessels and help blood to flow properly.

Another common problem is plaque formation in heart arteries. We know that free radicals change LDL cholesterol into dangerous oxidised cholesterol, the first step in plaque formation. This, with subsequent inflammation is the real driver of coronary artery disease. To help prevent these processes your daily multi should have the potent antioxidants especially high quality OPC from grape seed extract. These antioxidants help prevent cholesterol oxidation and intercept the processes that cause inflammation.

Another contributor to heart disease is high levels of homocysteine. This is a dangerous by-product of our protein metabolism. This can damage blood vessels leading to heart problems and can contribute to dementia. Fortunately, vitamins B6, B12 and folate readily prevent high homocysteine levels.

Finally, we need to consider the health of our blood vessels. These are complex tissues and need to stay healthy for good circulation and to maintain good blood pressure. There are many nutrients that affect blood vessel health especially vitamin C, bioflavonoids especially hesperidin and OPC. Vitamin C is needed to form the collagen needed to give blood vessels their strength and suppleness while the OPC’s help prevent free radical damage that causes blood vessels to stiffen which results in poor circulation and often high blood pressure.