Cardiac supplements

Cardiac supplements

Essential

• Omega 3 Fish oil ++
• baby aspirin
the enemy is inflammation, arachidonic acid in particular



Very good

• Niacin B3 start low build up - it may make you itchy
• Coenzyme Q - not super cheap, one brand Q-gel seems better absorbed (NZ study)
• Lecithin - the fat you have when youre not having fat
• Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid..reduce levels of..homocysteine


Looking good

• Sesame seeds toasted
• L-Carnitine & Taurine - the body makes these from meat, but might be worth taking if you can buy cheap.- probably need 3 grams+ so some kind of drink ("Red Bull"??)
• evening primrose GLA ?? watch your Ω 6 / Ω 3 ratios
• Tomato sauce





Price: Vitamin prices in NZ are a scandal. Blackmore's B vitamins are 8 times the USA price
So go Mail order.
I like swansonvitaminsSwansons, they have low prices and wide range
- you might like to use a special email account just for them, they do seem to sell your email address on...

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Notes:

Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid or vitamin B3, has long been regarded as one of the most effective weapons in managing cholesterol. It can lower levels of triglycerides, fatty acids and to a lesser extent, the "bad" kind of cholesterol (LDL) while at the same time powerfully increasing the "good" kind (HDL). But there's a catch – a big one. Patients don't like to take niacin because in most of them, it causes embarrassing, uncontrollable intense flushing, a rush of blood to the face and other skin surfaces accompanied by a prickling sensation.
vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and selenium. The study results showed that the increase in HDL levels seen in patients receiving statin-niacin therapy was eliminated when they also received the antioxidants.

(nb small study.. but Mega C may not be useful... also 'Vitamin E' means different things... beta-carotene may well harm smokers? ...

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emedtv
Niacin : start low, increase slowly
- or get a prescription slow release...

• Week 1 -- 100 mg three times daily
• Week 2 -- 200 mg three times daily
... • Week 12 and beyond -- 1000 mg three times daily

niacin 50 mg administered by mouth 2 times daily for 3 months. - low dose is effective, avoids 'flushing'
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CoQ10

double blind, placebo controlled study researchers gave subjects who recently suffered a heart attack either 120 mg of CoQ10 or a placebo B-Vitamin. At the start of the study both groups were very similar in their characteristics and approximately 50% of the subjects in each group were on a Statin drug. After one year the study reported some astounding results! The group that was given the CoQ10 had 42% less sudden cardiac death, 47% less fatal heart attacks, 46% less non-fatal heart attacks, 69% less angioplasty or bypasses, 54% less stroke and 45% less cardiac deaths. In addition, only 6.8% off the group who was given the Coq10 suffered from fatigue versus over 40% of the group give the B-vitamin placebo.

Although this study was small (144 subjects) i

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NZ study shows Q-Gel is best
nzma
Thus it is clear that there are important differences. There is at least a four-fold variation in the increase in plasma CoQ10 achieved by different supplements, and some people get no increase when they take the less effective supplements at typical doses.
The high bioavailability of Q-Gel may be due to the presence of both non-ionic surfactants and the natural surfactant lecithin. The Radiance and Blackmores brands showed the next highest bioavailability, and these brands also contain lecithin........................
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26. Jeejeebhoy F, Keith M, Freeman M, Barr A, McCall M, Kurian R, et al. Nutritional supplementation with MyoVive repletes essential cardiac myocyte nutrients and reduces left ventricular size in patients with left ventricular dysfunction. Am Heart J 2002;143:1092-100.
A more recent trial26 using coenzyme Q10 in combination with carnitine and taurine did find modest clinical improvement.
Am Heart J 2002;143:1092-100.
ncbi
CoQ10, taurine, and carnitine levels ..
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taurine, L-carnitine .
Several clinical trials indicate that L-carnitine and propionyl-L-carnitine can help reduce symptoms of angina and improve the ability of those with angina to exercise without chest pain.
1.5 - 2 g per day

Carnitine & Taurine are made from meat, suggests that lean meat may . be ok?

Taurine 3-5g /day
"red bull" springerlink
vitacost
1000mg * 240 = US$14 6c/gram - sems cheap enough... I bet NZ shop prices are way higher

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Lecithin - the fat you have when youre not having fat. People who go on radically low-fat and low-egg diets get miserable. Lecithin is the non-fat part of tri-glycerides. May cheer you up , keep your nerve membranes shiny. I tried a teaspoonful in soup, seems to make it more fatty-satisfying. I dont know if the soy-based lecithin is free of soy phyto-estrogens.


Vitamins in NZ are usually way too expensive (fish oil isnt too bad)
Blackmores seem to have a death-grip on megaB NZ33c for a mega with 50mg b6 (shop price) around nz33c
online 75 tabs nz$23.50 = 19c USD
cf Swansons 100mg B6 multivit US$14.19 = 2.365c for 50mg equivalent
so NZ price is 8 times the USA price.

So Buy On-Line!
Swanson Q-Gel Mega 100 100 mg 60 Sgels $21.89

cf a nz web site nz$92.8 = us$53.71 ratio = 2.5


dietfacts
Dr Sears likes toasted sesame seeds - regular 'refined' sesame oil may lack the polyphenols?

, sesame oil and especially toasted sesame oil has been held with the same high regard in India and the Far East. Why? We now know the health benefits of both lies with a group of chemicals known as polyphenols. In high enough concentrations, these polyphenols act as anti-inflammatory agents that inhibit the genetic expression of pro-inflammatory proteins. Toasting the sesame seeds prior to extraction produces other polyphenols, such as sesamol, that inhibit the formation of arachidonic acid and stimulate the production of fat-burning enzymes.

the ideal would be to lightly toast sesame seeds, then to grind them.

Sears is the Zone Diet guy
zonediet
I also like udo erasmus "Fats that heal, Fats that kill.
I believe Udo & Sears may have some disagreements, but they are both techie, detailed, and analytical..........................
Udo isnt keen on fish oil, but I am, Udo is big on flax-seed oil. However most folks are getting a lot of W6 already
Its all about ratios

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biomedexperts id & password gill.yoda gill.yoda
Tomato juice


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More Esoteric supplements
c/o nutralegacy

• Artichoke Leaf Extract... elimination of bad LDL cholesterol.
• Curcumin, .. Turmeric that helps protect blood vessel integrity and reduce inflammation.
• Green Tea..can therefore help decrease high triglycerides.
• Hawthorne Berry is an excellent source of flavonoids ..strengthen the heart and blood vessels.
• Policosanol, derived .from sugar cane,.as effective as some statin drugs at lowering both total and LDL cholesterol levels.
• Guggulsterones.. is a traditional Indian herb..help fight the build-up of blood vessel plaque on the inside of arterial walls.. can improve both cholesterol and triglyceride readings.
• Red Yeast Rice, a natural food product from China, has been clinically demonstrated to lower total and LDL cholesterol. It has been in used medicinally for over 1,000 years.
• Cayenne pepper, another well known and revered spice, is great to use to improve circulation. It is a warming stimulant that helps decrease the “thickness” of the blood.
• Garlic, one of the most prominent foods and healing spices


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re: the above 'small study" suggestion that anti-oxidants are not useful:
vitamin C supplement use was associated with a significantly lower risk of CHD (RR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.86).
onlinejacc



sciencedirect

About one half of American cardiologists take supplemental vitamin E, about the same number as take aspirin. In fact, one study suggests that aspirin plus vitamin E is more effective than aspirin alone. ..some supplementation appears prudent now.

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