The Truth Behind Aging Coronary Arteries: Restoring Arterial Health

Cardiovascular health depends on good blood flow. Arterial damage slows this flow down. The result is cardiovascular disease. According to mainstream medicine, an underlying factor of such disease is arterial aging. This view is only partially true.

The key to understanding cardiovascular health doesn’t depend on how old arteries are. It depends instead on how much damage they undergo. Restoring youthful blood flow means reversing the damage. That’s like turning back the clock on aging arteries.

Unfortunately, modern medicine ignores the crucial role that the lining of the arteries plays in good blood flow. Nevertheless, rejuvenating the lining of arterial walls is exactly how you can reverse so-called arterial aging.

Undoing the Damage

Oxygen radicals and other oxidants start the damage by smacking into the arterial lining. Eventually, these repeated assaults lead to weakened spots where cholesterol and calcium get stuck and begin to form clots. When this cycle continues unabated, arteries become clogged and their walls become hardened.

Some factions of the medical establishment still view high cholesterol as the primary cause behind arterial clogging, which is why cholesterol-lowering drugs are a multibillion-dollar industry. The reality is that rough arterial walls, not cholesterol levels, are the crucial factor that underlies poor cardiovascular health.

Restoring the lining of arterial walls is the key to allowing blood to zip along like it should. Good blood flow is what keeps oxygen radicals and other inflammatory molecules from slowing down long enough to do damage.

Restoring Arterial Health

Returning arteries to their youthful health depends on undoing any prior damage to arterial walls. Toward that end, recent research focuses on the composition of the arterial lining for explaining how arteries work. This work specifically zeros in on the ultra-thin innermost layer of the lining, called the glycocalyx.

The arterial glycocalyx is nature’s way of putting proteins and polysaccharides together in such a way as to make cells super slippery. A slippery glycocalyx is valuable not only for human health but also for blood flow in other animals and for cell-to-cell interaction in algae and bacteria. It even makes fish slimy.

The good news about your arterial glycocalyx is that repairing any damage to it can be as simple as supplying your body with the right materials for making repairs. Research shows, for example, that consuming polysaccharides from certain seaweeds can reinvigorate arterial health.

Seaweed polysaccharides that provide health benefits to your arteries work because they are very similar chemically to the glycocalyx of the lining of your inner arterial walls.

Bonus Benefits

Restoring arterial health does much more than boost blood flow. Besides preventing clot formation, a properly slippery arterial lining also minimizes the release of inflammatory hormones that otherwise add to vascular damage. Reducing clotting and lowering inflammatory hormone levels alone slashes heart risks.

In addition, smooth blood flow normalizes circulating levels of cholesterol and blood sugar. It even helps regulate blood pressure.

What else can healthy circulation do for you? Keep in mind that healthy blood flow is behind nearly all aspects of your health. This means that smoothing the lining of your arteries will also boost your brainpower, make your skin glow, and enhance all aspects of your physical performance (including sexual function!).

_________________________________________________________________________

About the Author: Dr. Dennis Clark

Dr. Dennis Clark is a research scientist specializing in plant natural products chemistry and herbal medicine. He received his PhD degree in plant chemistry from the University of Texas and spent 30 years as a professor at Arizona State University. He has also been Visiting Professor at the University of Heidelberg (Germany) and the University of California at Riverside. He has written a college-level textbook on botany, several ebooks about natural approaches to health, and dozens of research articles in professional scientific journals. Dr. Clark enjoys teaching others about herbal medicine and other natural approaches to health.