Nitric Oxide Can Help You Take the High Out of High Blood Pressure!

Understanding blood pressure and the role that nitric oxide plays in helping you maintain a normal blood pressure is critical to good cardiovascular health and your overall wellness. It is one of the reasons why most doctors and nurses will take your blood pressure every time you visit them. They are checking to make sure that your blood pressure has not increased to place you in the high blood pressure or hypertension category.

High Blood Pressure or Hypertension Can Be Deadly

According to ABC News 45% of the adult population is at significant risk for heart and cardiovascular disease. Of the three greatest areas of risk, they listed high blood pressure as number 1 with cholesterol concerns as number 2 and diabetes as number 3.

It’s estimated that 1 in 3 adults or approximately 75 million Americans have hypertension. The number one risk factor for stroke is high blood pressure, and 1 out of every 3 African Americans suffers from this ailment.  The American Heart Association estimates that 28% of African American adults and more than 66% of African Americans over the age of 60 have high blood pressure.

According to the Framingham Heart Study, 50% of all people who had their first heart attack and 66% of people who had their first stroke had blood pressure readings above 160/95 mmHg.  It’s also interesting to note that in the Framingham Heart Study two thirds of the participants who started out with normal blood pressure ended up developing hypertension.  Of the top five reasons why people visit their doctors, hypertension is either number one or number two. According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 700,000 deaths per year have a hypertension component.

Because you cannot feel high blood pressure it’s commonly referred to as the “Silent but Deadly Disease!” Although it doesn’t typically produce outward signs, high blood pressure can cause major internal damage by injuring the endothelial cells that line all of your cardiovascular system. This damage impairs the body’s ability to naturally produce nitric oxide, the master signaling molecule of the cardiovascular system. And, it usually leads to inflammation of the arteries which is followed by atherosclerosis and plaque formations. Hypertension can also enlarge the heart, damage the kidneys, and trigger a heart attack or stroke.

If you do not know what your blood pressure reading is or if you have not had it measured in the last 6 months, then visit your doctor’s office or your local pharmacy and have your blood pressure measured by a qualified health practitioner. It’s that important!

Effective Treatment with Nitric Oxide

The typical treatment program for most people with high blood pressure can be a combination of diet, exercise, stress management techniques, and medication. For many who opt for the medication route, it’s estimated that 26% still do not have their hypertension under control. Since many medications also have some form of side effect it can be a frustrating journey trying to get your blood pressure under control.

Paying attention to and properly nourishing your endothelial cells can enhance their ability to produce nitric oxide. This form of treatment is seldom considered yet Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine Dr. Louis Ignarro makes the following statement:

“More effective than any other factor in the body, nitric oxide can dilate the smooth muscle of the blood vessels. With this dilation, the vessels can relax and allow blood to flow easily through them – and quite possibly lower the blood pressure.”

Nitric oxide is produced by many cells in the body for various functions. Its production by the endothelial cells is critical for proper blood flow. The endothelial cells produce nitric oxide from the essential amino acid L-arginine by the enzymatic action of nitric oxide synthase or NOS. The human genome contains 3 different genes for the encoding of NOS:

In healthy blood vessels, nitric oxide is continually being produced by eNOS. The activity of eNOS is dependent upon calcium. Plus, there are two fundamental pathways for the stimulation of eNOS:

Once produced nitric oxide diffuses freely across cell membranes to relax the smooth muscles in the wall of the arterioles. This causes the arterioles to relax to permit the surge of blood to easily pass through it.

It is interesting to note that in mice studies, where the genes for NOS have been disabled, hypertension results.

Five Important Keys to Consider

The following 5 keys will help you understand how to help your body produce more nitric oxide to aid in blood pressure control.

Key 1 – Exercise! You will note from above information that increases in blood flow will stimulate nitric oxide formation. Exercise increases blood flow. It’s usually one of the recommendations given to people with hypertension to help them lower their blood pressure. A simple walking program can be very effective. As a precaution, if you are not currently exercising then talk with a qualified health professional before you start exercising.

Key 2 – Vitamin D3! Calcium is needed for the NOS enzymes to work properly to produce nitric oxide. Vitamin D3 has long been known to aid in calcium absorption. New research shows that D3 also plays a role in healthy cardiovascular function and supports healthy inflammatory response.

Key 3 – Diet! I’m not talking about going on a diet although this can help overweight people who have hypertension. Instead I’m referring to the type of diet most Americans consume which is refined flour, animal protein, and high intake of dark colas. This is an acidic diet which leaches calcium from your system to affect the efficiency of the eNOS enzymes to produce nitric oxide. Changing from an acid to an alkaline producing diet can be a major factor in improving both cardiovascular health and overall wellness.

Key 4 – L-Arginine! You body uses this essential amino acid to produce nitric oxide. Most people’s diets are insufficient in the amount of L-arginine consumed. Supplementation with a good L-arginine product can be beneficial. I recommend ProArgi-9 Plus. It contains 5 grams of pharmaceutical grade L-arginine with other ingredients to aid in nitric oxide production while helping to repair the endothelial cells. Additionally, this product has a large number of long-term and short-term clinical studies (like the High Desert Heart Institute Study) to support its effectiveness.

Key 5 – L-Citrulline! This amino acid is very hard to obtain from food alone so supplementation is the best option. Most vascular researchers will tell you that L-citrulline is equally important, maybe even more important, then L-arginine because it significantly extends the ability of the endothelial cells to properly produce nitric oxide . This extended window of improved nitric oxide (NO) production allows for significant health benefits. According to Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine Dr. Louis Ignarro from his book NO More Heart Disease:

“My research shows that if you take only L-arginine, which is the dominant producer of NO, you will not receive the maximum benefit. I have found that by including the synergistic partner L-citrulline, your ability to boost NO production is greatly enhanced over the effects of L-arginine alone.”

While each of these five keys are important to implement, the one critical key that is often overlooked is key 5 – the need for L-citrulline.  The reason why is an enzyme called arginase that destroys L-arginine to limit nitric oxide production.

One Factor Seldom Addressed

Very few health care providers address the enzyme arginase. Arginase is used by your liver to help you detoxify.  It also travels in everyone’s blood stream.  Arginase destroys L-arginine to limit nitric oxide production.

While arginase is common for all people, what is not common is a genetic polymorphism inherent to the African American population.  This genetic polymorphism causes African Americans to have higher levels of arginase in their blood stream. This ends up destroying more L-arginine to reduce the amount of nitric oxide and its benefits.

For the African American community,
nitric oxide production is compromised on both sides of the nitric oxide equation!

On the front end, the enzyme arginase destroys L-arginine, which interferes with the production of nitric oxide.  On the back end, the health of your endothelial cells determines how much of the remaining L-arginine can be converted to nitric oxide.  Unfortunately, your endothelial cells are damaged by high blood pressure, high sugar levels, high cholesterol, smoking, and oxidative stress.  This damage reduces the production of nitric oxide, which compounds the problem and increases the risk for high blood pressure.

By supplying your body with the amino acid L-citrulline you can help break this nasty cycle. Your body will convert the amino acid L-citrulline into L-arginine to help maintain its production of nitric oxide.  This process bypasses the destructive nature of the arginase enzyme. Having a good supply of L-citrulline will provide your body with a 24 to 36 hour window of improved nitric oxide production and all the healing benefits that can occur. This can have a profound effect on normalizing your blood pressure.

As you can see there are multiple ways to help your body naturally produce more nitric oxide. If you are currently on hypertension medication and decide to use an L-arginine / L-citrulline protocol to improve your endothelial cells’ ability to properly produce nitric oxide, then work with your health care professional so that adjustments can be properly made.

ProArgi-9 Plus can Benefit Adults with HBP

ProArgi-9 Plus is a clinically proven L-arginine / L-citrulline nutritional supplement designed to help repair your endothelial cells so that they can properly produce nitric oxide. The product formulator for ProArgi-9 Plus is Dr. J. Joseph Prendergast who incorporated Nobel Prize winning science, with cutting edge vascular research, to develop a clinically proven, natural supplement that has benefited thousands of his patients and tens of thousands of people around the world.

This product also incorporates Vitamin D3. Thus 3 of the above 5 steps outlined to help your endothelial cells repair and properly produce nitric oxide (the master signaling molecule of your cardiovascular system) are included in this unique and effective product. Since nitric oxide regulates the muscle tone of the vascular walls of your entire cardiovascular system, ProArgi-9 Plus can be an effective nutritional supplement to help those with blood pressure concerns.

If you are currently on hypertension medication and decide to use ProArgi-9 Plus to improve your endothelial cells’ ability to properly produce nitric oxide, then work with your health care professional to make appropriate adjustments to your medication.