Posts Tagged ‘hardened arteries’

Diet and Exercise Don't Help Genetic High Cholesterol. Learn Which Vitamins and Supplements Do.

Friday, February 28th, 2014
Heart Disease Vitamins, Vitamins for Stroke, Vitamins for Hardened Arteries

Frustrated with trying to control cholesterol with diet and exercise? Without the right vitamins, you could still be doing damage to your heart and arteries while cholesterol levels stay high due to genetic factors.

Exciting things are happening in the world of preventing and treating angina, heart disease, and atherosclerosis. We know that LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, is a good measure for determining one’s heart disease risk. More studies are being done on lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), to determine how we might treat, prevent and reverse heart disease.

Vitamin C Therapy for Coronary Artery Disease

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

As the leading cause for death in the United States for men and women, coronary artery disease is a big concern for its citizens. It is usually caused by atherosclerosis, or plaque build-up in the arteries. As the spaces in the arteries narrow, blood flow to the heart is significantly reduced and can actually stop. Symptoms are usually described by patients as chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or as chest constriction associated with increased activity or stress levels. Atherosclerosis leads to coronary artery disease, or heart disease, and can result in stroke, heart attack, heart failure, or death.

You may be wondering why heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. It can generally be linked to things like smoking and drinking, which significantly increase inflammation and decrease vitamin stores in the body. Diabetics, people with kidney disease, and people who live sedentary lifestyles are also at a very high risk for developing heart disease.

If you are at high risk or have been diagnosed with heart disease by your doctor, you will need to follow treatment programs very closely. Abruptly stopping medications used to treat high cholesterol (statin drugs), high blood pressure, blood thinners, or diuretics can cause a heart attack or make symptoms worse.

Coronary arteries take on a lot of stress, stretching and compressing a large amount of blood every second to keep blood flowing into and out of the heart. If there are insufficient vitamin levels in the body, these arteries lose elasticity and become cracked, brittle and damaged. Calcium is attracted to these cracks and deposits itself in them, leaving arteries hard and fragile.

The body tries to repair the damaged arteries by producing extra cholesterol to smooth over these hard patches. High cholesterol is often a warning that heart disease has already started to develop. Preventing further damage to the arteries is the best way to control the outcome of this process.

Because coronary arteries take on a heavy workload, there will always be a process of breaking down and building up going on. If you were perfectly healthy, the lesions and stress points in your arteries would be healed with collagen and elastin, not calcium and cholesterol. Collagen and elastin create a flexible, soft, healthy artery wall, while calcium and cholesterol produce hard, brittle patches that attract more calcium and plaque.

Vitamin C is necessary for the production of collagen and elastin. People who are deficient often end up with coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, and other diseases that are caused by an insufficient supply of collagen and elastin in the body. These inflammatory diseases cause the body to quickly be depleted of vitamin stores. When combined with a poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking or drinking, it can be almost impossible to produce collagen and elastin.

Taking vitamin C to repair damage in your arteries, control inflammation, and stop further damage from occurring is a great way to help you beat the odds. It is important to speak with your physician before starting a vitamins and supplements routine, because taking higher doses of certain vitamins can alter the effects of the medications that your doctor prescribes. Taking a highly absorbable, non-acidic form of the best vitamin C, like vitamin c powder, can help you to take the doses that are necessary to get your body back in balance. Work with your doctor when treating the root cause of your coronary artery disease and you could be on your way to healing and preventing more damage.



Part 2: What is causing my Arteries to Harden?

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

We’ve learned from “Part 1” of the series “What is causing my Arteries to Harden?” that inflammation is the most common culprit of causing atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. There are a lot of processes that have to take place for the arteries to harden. Understanding those processes and how to slow them down can help you lead a longer and healthier life, despite having hardened arteries.

We’ve discussed how diabetes and high cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis, so now we will look at some other factors to consider. Some people have inherited a predisposition that can lead them to suffer from this disease, even at an early age. The direct link is not known, but it is suspected to be related to the gene that can cause hereditary high cholesterol.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is caused when the heart pumps blood too forcefully around the body. This puts too much pressure on arteries and can cause damage to them. Vessels that are not elastic enough to withstand the pressure can dilate and balloon out. This is called an aneurysm. If an aneurysm bursts, it is usually a fatal event. Hardened arteries can’t handle the extra pressure that is put on them by hypertension. Hypertension causes inflammation, which leads to tearing, immune system over-activity, and atherosclerosis.

High blood pressure can be caused by many things, but essentially it is caused by the central nervous system over-reacting to oxidative stress. Basically, your brain recognizes chemicals and free radicals in your body and it’s trying to get rid of them by increasing the flow of blood. Humans don’t make their own vitamin C to clear out free radicals and combat oxidative stress, so we have to get it in our diets. It can be difficult to get enough vitamin C through diet alone, especially if you have high blood pressure, because it is in such high demand. Taking vitamins and supplements to reduce oxidative stress also helps to lower your blood pressure and protect you from further hardening of the arteries.

Now we need to talk about smoking. Smoking cigarettes puts you into the highest risk category for developing atherosclerosis, even higher than genetic factors alone. This is because smoking aggravates, accelerates, and worsens high blood pressure and high cholesterol. When you smoke, you immediately deplete any stores of vitamin C that you once had. As we’ve learned, vitamin C is essential for forming collagen and elastin so that your body doesn’t want to increase cholesterol and then use it for repairing arteries. Smoking creates a cascade of free radicals that your body can only handle by increasing your blood pressure.

Talk with your doctor about utilizing discount vitamins or wholesale supplements to help you control the things that are contributing to your atherosclerosis. Treating your body with natural vitamins and supplements can help you to lead a longer and healthier life.

About the Author: Phil Le Breton is owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people maintain good health with wholesale vitamins and supplements. Wholesale Nutrition has provided the world with the best discount vitamins and wholesale supplements since 1970. Visit to buy high-quality, low-cost discount supplements today!

Part 1: What is causing my Arteries to Harden?

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Atherosclerosis is often referred to as “hardening of the arteries”. Arteries are affected by inflammation, genetic factors, and diet, which can lead to hardened arteries. There are many health risks associated with atherosclerosis, including aneurysm, stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure, and kidney failure.

Arteries can show signs of atherosclerosis in your early 20’s and 30’s. It is a disease that takes years to develop and often goes unnoticed until life-threatening symptoms are experienced. Diagnosis is usually made after a vascular event, such as a stroke or heart attack. Many things can lead to hardening of the arteries. It is a progressive disease which cannot be cured. However, altering the things that lead to the hardening can help to protect you from some of the health risks associated with atherosclerosis and help you to live a longer, healthier life.

Work with your doctor on a treatment program that is right for you. Try to pinpoint the things in your life that have lead you to this disease. If you can change a few things in your lifestyle and daily routine, you could protect yourself for a long time. Understanding how each change affects your arteries is important. Having an understanding of what exactly is going on will help you to adhere to the best routine for yourself. Someone simply telling you to exercise and watch your diet isn’t likely to instill any real desire to change your daily habits.

There are a few common factors that lead to atherosclerosis. Diabetes is one of those common factors. Sugar travels through your veins leaving tiny tears along the way. If you’re diabetic, your body will not clear out the sugar fast enough to prevent artery damage. Your body uses vitamin C in your liver to produce collagen and elastin, which repairs the tears with a stretchy, elastic patch. If you do not have enough vitamin C in your blood to produce collagen and elastin, your body will use cholesterol to create a hard, rigid patch. This is how diabetes leads to hardened arteries.

High cholesterol can have the same effect. If your body has a lot of cholesterol, then it is inflamed. Inflammation is known to be one of the biggest contributors of atherosclerosis. When there is inflammation present, your immune system is on high-alert, in panic-mode. If your immune system is over-reacting to the inflammation, it will quickly use cholesterol to repair tendons, organs, and arteries instead of waiting around for collagen and elastin to be formed. It will force your body to pack fat around your organs to protect them from the inflammation, putting you at a high risk for diabetes.

Keeping your vitamin C levels high enough to handle the sugar and cholesterol in your body can help you to fight back against your body working against you. Vitamin C is essential for controlling inflammation on a daily basis while regulating the immune system so that your arteries have a fighting chance.

Talk with your doctor about starting a vitamins and supplements routine to control the factors that have lead to your atherosclerosis. Discount vitamins and wholesale supplements can help you to save money while treating the underlying conditions that have caused your arteries to harden.

“Part 2” of the series “What is causing my Arteries to Harden?” will focus on other factors that can lead to hardening of the arteries and how you can fight back. Wholesale vitamins and supplements are a cost effective way to help you live a longer and healthier life with atherosclerosis. Learn how.
