Your heart is certainly a miraculous design . Even before your birth , the heart muscles are working hard , pumping oxygen enriched blood to each part in your body and returnin oxygen depleted blood back to the lungs. On average, the heart will beat 37,869,120 times each 365 days , year after year. That’s around two and a half billion heartbeats for a lifetime .

Obviously , your heart is your powerhouse and it’s worth protecting. As you already know , nobody can survive without a working heart and statistically with an average of two deaths a minute , forty percent of all the deaths in the U.S.) are from heart disease, the leading cause of which is Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).

Since it’s the hardest working organ in your body, the heart muscles will produce an abundance of energy and it’s the high requirement for energy production which renders your heart susceptable to the attack of free radicals. So , a heart has a high requirement for antioxidants and the most valuable of which is Glutathione.

Your Heart’s Energy Factory

The heart’s amazing ability to make energy is found within each cell in the cellular power plants called Mitochondria. Each cell in every organ possesses these tiny energy producing locations . Most cells have a couple of hundred mitochondria, but the ones in your heart are estimated to include up to 5,000! The power that’s made in your cells, is created as a compound called ATP which stands for adenosine triphosphate. It’s no surprise , producing energy has a price .

The by- products of energy production are damaged molecules – free radicals and with the high concentration of energy producing mitochondria in the cells of the heart , there will also be a proportionately high concentration of oxy-radicals . Without the intervention of antioxidants , free radicals will develop a cascading reaction within the heart cells that can kill them and their components – including the cellular DNA.

Heart Disease and Coronary Artery Disease

Arteriosclerosis – Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) which is usually referred to as a hardening of the arteries or loss of arterial elasticity is a leading cause of Heart disease. It has been connected to a substance called lipid peroxidase. That’s what happens if the lipids in your heart become free radicals. Lipids, actually are a group of molecules which include waxes, sterols, fats and the fat soluble vitamins E, A, D & K. In addition to high levels of Free radicals, patients with CAD have also been found with low levels of antioxidants like Glutathione. Without enough antioxidants to clean out free radicals in the heart, this organ and the arteries in the system will eventually suffer from oxidative stress.

Our systems are designed to clean up the free radicals resulting from normal processes, however too many people are subject to extra stressors that weren’t part of the original plan . These stresses include environmental chemicals (like tobacco smoke!), nutritionally inadequate diets, the unhealthy pace and induced stress of everyday living and weak condition of our bodies from no exercise. This has put our antioxidant levels at a distinct disadvantage.

Atherosclerosis, the health-related name for heart disease is the # 1 killer among North Americans. But what is heart disease? Well, sclerosis indicates “hardening” and athero describes the type of substance that clogs and hardens arteries. In time, our risk factors gradually rise but certain risk factors are important in identifying if we’re possible prospects and they include our Age group, blood pressure, total cholesterol levels and good (HDL) cholesterol amounts.

Warning Indicators:

High total cholesterol
Increased amounts of cholesterol in the blood can contribute to atherosclerosis, which is the slow accumulation of fat, cholesterol and other particles along the sides of your arteries. It’s named plaque and it can accumulate enough to constrict and stiffen the artery. If the plaque is bad enough, it can restrict blood flow past the blockage. Parts can also break off and cause a heart attack or stroke. An acceptable cholesterol level is 170 mg/dL or lower.

Low HDL “good” cholesterol
High density lipoproteins (HDL) absorb cholesterol and recycle it back to the liver for disposal. A normal, healthy HDL level is over 60 mg/dL. HDL cholesterol increases with workouts. We require daily exercise to enhance our HDL and minimize our risk of heart disease.

High blood Pressure
Blood pressure is read as two numbers. The higher number, called the systolic pressure, is the pressure in the arteries when your heart beats . The other number, called the diastolic pressure, stands for the pressure when the heart is at rest.

A healthy systolic number is 115. If your arteries are stiff, inflexible, inflamed or too narrow, your heart will have to work harder and this will create a higher systolic measure.

A normal diastolic measure is 75 or lower. When the diastolic number is increased it can mean that your lungs, kidneys and liver are not properly detoxifying your body.

High blood pressure, along with high cholesterol numbers and low HDL levels should be viewed as warning signals from our body. Heightened homocysteine sounds a louder alarm and excessive C-Reactive protein levels should never be ignored .

In addition to exercise, products like MAXONE which help the heart by supporting our glutathione production, ProArgi 9 Plus which acts as a Nitric Oxide Precursor and Herbal supplements like R-Gardens Heart Blend will all help you support your good health.

Like glutatione alpha lipoic acid (ALA)is to be found in every cell in your body. It’s an antioxidant that helps your cells convert glucose into energy. ALA works – is soluable, in both water and fat so it can work anywhere in your body unlike antioxidants like Vitamin C or vitamin E which only work in water and fat respectively. Like other antioxidants, ALA helps clean free radicals – your body’s metabolic trash – from the cells which prevents them from becoming cluttered and toxic from a build up of waste. Alpha lipoic Acid has the ability to help to regenerate other antioxidants once they have collected the stray electrons and through the regeneration process renders them able to continue to neutralize more free radicals. this ability to regenerate other antioxidants, while not completely unique, it extremely valuable.

ALA is also used as an abbreviation for Alpha Linolenic Acid which is an omega-3 fatty acid, connected with heart health, but this is a different substance from Alpha lipoic acid – also referred to as Lipoic Acid.

Several studies have indicated that ALA may be able to help reduce levels of blood sugar and combined with it’s antioxidant properties, ALA might be helpful to people suffering from diabetic peripheral neuropathy, relieving some of the discomfort caused by nerve damage.

Researchers are studying alpha lipoic acid to determine its effectiveness against glaucoma although the are yet to collect sufficient data, but because it can pass easilt to the brain, it is possible that ALA might be useful as a protector against brain and nerve tissue damage. it is currently being studied as a possible treatment for stroke and other brain problems with root causes based on free radical damage. Dementia is one such condition.

ALA is one of the ingredients in MaxGXL and it’s also one of the ingredients in Max International’s newest glutathione support product – Cellgevity. It works with your body’s glutathione and as a powerful antioxidant, fights the root causes of premature aging.

I’ve been reviewing the different antioxidant rich foods in AIO premium cellular health and was looking at some information about Acai.

Acai is the Portuguese word for a type of palm tree that is found in Central and South America. It usually grows in Peru and Brazil, in wet areas and floodplains. Scientifically it is names Euterpe oleracea. The Portuguese name means a plant that cries or expels water. REcently, the plant has become quite well known, particularly for its fruit; which is small, round and purple-black in color. The acai fruit is used by natives in the Brazilian Amazon as food. It is also served as a beverage.

Around the world, interest in acai has been driven by of its nutritional content, antioxidant properties and also its use as a weight loss option. The nutritional content of the fruit is based on proteins, carbohydrates, fat, dietary fiber, vitamins and low sugar value. It is frequently marketed as a dietary supplement, with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz promoting it.

Acai is believed to have antioxidant qualities. Some studies have demonstrated it has polyphenol and antioxidant anthocyanins, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, phytochemicals and minerals. The antioxidants are considered to have disease-prevention abilities, thus supporting the immune system of individuals who use acai. It has flavanoids that are responsible for combatting conditions like heart diseases. Extracts of acai are found to have an effect against peroxyl, peroxynitrite and hydroxyl radicals. Scientists have shown a link between free radical damage and chronic diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, cataracts and Alzheimer’s disease.
The dense nutritional value of the fruit is also shown to suppress appetites, hence the use as a weight loss option. It improves the libido, reduces inflammation and has been shown to boost stamina and energy as well as delay aging.
Altogether, Acai berry is an antioxidant rich food that supports good health.

Discovering the medical significance of Nitric Oxide (NO) as a signalling molecule for the cardiovascular system earned Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

A signaling molecule is a chemical involved in transmitting information between cells. They are released from the cell sending the signal, cross over the gap between cells, and interact with receptors in another cell, triggering a response in that cell.

The responses that the Nitric Oxide molecule triggers in the cardio vascular system are the stuff of medical miracles for people risking heart attacks caused by the conditions known as hardening of the arteries or coronary artery disease and more accurately referred to as atherosclerosis.

Nitric Oxide relaxes the blood vessels, increasing their elasticity over time, improving or increasing the blood flow and – critically – even dissolving cholesterol plaque, which if ruptured can trigger a heart attack or even a stroke.

A new product has been brought to my attention, of great interest to anyone suffering any of these conditions or suffering from Erectile Dysfunction, which is apparently an early marker for heart problems. Actually, since the build of of cholesterol plaque in the arteries can happen to anyone at virtually anytime, I think this product should be of interest to everyone. It’s called ProArgi-9Plus and it includes 5grams of pharmaceutical grade L-Arginine, L-citrulline and a potent blend of folate and antioxidants.

L-Arginine is converted by the body into Nitric Oxide and L-Citrulline is converted in L-Arginine which in turns converts into Nitric Oxide – a potent One-Two.
I’ll write more about the health benefits of L-arginine and Nitric Oxide in the future, but for now, you can click here ProArgi 9 Plus for information on buying this awesome new product.

If you want to be amazed with a wonderous design, look no further than the human heart. Even before you were born, it’s muscles are hard at work, circulating oxygen rich blood to every corner of your body and returning oxygen depleted blood to the lungs to be renewed. The average heart beats 37,869,120 times each year, year after year. That’s over two and a half billion heartbeats in a lifetime.

If you’ve ever wondered just how much bood your heart will pump in
your life, consider that you’d have to turn your kitchen tap on full blast and leave it running for 45 years. It would fill 200 railroad tanker cars. How hard does your heart work to pump blood? Pick up a tennis ball and give it a tight squeeze, that is how hard your heart needs to work with every beat. I don’t think that the most brilliant human engineer has ever designed anything that comes close to the marvel that is your heart.

Unquestionably, your heart is a powerhouse and it’s worth protecting because you can’t live without a beating heart. Did you know that with an average of one person dying every 34 seconds, 40% of all the deaths in the United States are the result of heart disease? The leading cause of heart disease is Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).

Because it’s the hardest working muscle in the body, the heart also needs to produce a lot of energy. It’s this high level of energy production that makes your heart vulnerable to the attack of free radicals. Being vlunerable to free radical damage, the heart therefore has a high demand for antioxidants, the most important of which is Glutathione – Your Body’s Master Antioxidant.

Your Heart’s Energy Engines
Your heart’s incredible energy output is produced within each cell in cellular power plants called Mitochondria. Every cell in your body has these designated energy producing sites. The average cell in an average organ has a few hundred mitochondria, but the cells that make up the endlessly toiling muscles of your heart are estimated to have up to 5,000! Cellular energy comes in the form of a substance called ATP which stands for adenosine triphosphate.

The complicated chemical processes within your cells that support the mitochondria to produce energy from nutrients have some unfortunate by- products. I guess its not all that different from any form of production that creates something from raw materials- there is always a waste product. But in the case of cellular energy production the by-products have a damaging effect.

The by- products are free radicals – damaged oxygen molecules that were not completely and cleanly metabolized in energy production process. With the high concentration of energy producing mitochondria in the heart, there is an equally high concentration of free radicals. Without the intervention of antioxidant activity, free radicals create a chain reaction within the cells that can damage them and their components – including the cellular DNA. Accumulated damage can lead to a host of what are usually thought of as the chronic diseases of aging.

CAD and Heart Disease
Arteriosclerosis – Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) which is generally referred to as a hardening of the arteries or loss of arterial elasticity and is one of the leading causes of Heart disease, has been linked to a substance called lipid peroxidase. This is what happens when the lipids in your heart become free radicals. Lipids, by the way are a large group of molecules which include waxes, sterols, fats and the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E & K. As well as having high levels of free radicals, patients with CAD have also been found with reduced levels of antioxidants like Glutathione.

Without an adequate supply of antioxidants to scavenge free radicals in the heart, this organ and the arteries in the system will be subjected to a condition known as oxidative stress.

While our bodies have originally been designed to clean up the free radicals created by normal processes, most of us are now dealing with extra stresses that were not part of the original plan. These stresses include environmental poisons (and especially cigarette smoke!), nutritionally inadequate diets, the pressures and emotional stress of everyday living and poor conditioning of the muscles from a lack of exercise. These added pressures of living place our antioxidant reserves at a distinct disadvantage.

The Benefits of Boosting our Glutathione and Antioxidant Reserves
As we get older our systems naturally begin to slow down. The mitochondria in our heart muscles are gradually producing less energy and our glutathione production is falling. It drops off by about 10% for every decade past our twenties.

Glutathione is vital for a healthy heart. Boosting glutathione levels will not make you live forever, but given how hard your heart is working for you, it only makes sense to improve your diet, live a healthier lifestyle and take concrete steps to increase the natural production of glutathione.

The free radical theory of aging explains many of the ways our various organ systems are degraded over time by oxidative stress and demonstrates very clearly that boosting antioxidant levels can help to increase our absolute life span and certainly improve the quality of our life and health as senior citizens.