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About 805,000 Americans have a heart attack every year.
And about 1 in 5 of these heart attacks is silent.
That means that people have the heart attacks and all the damage associated with them, but the damage is permanent.
For most people, a heart attack is their biggest risk of death and about one person dies every 36 seconds from heart disease.
Many others have permanent physical and mental effects from having a heart attack.That means that preventing heart disease and protecting your heart if you do have a heart attack are critical to good health.
It looks like vitamin E might have potential in this area.In a mice study published in Redox Biology, researchers studied whether the administration of Vitamin E at the onset of a heart attack could potentially help decrease damage from the heart attack.
"One of the most effective anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agents is vitamin E and its derivatives."
The goal is to find an inexpensive treatment that can be given on the way to the hospital that will help prevent damage.
"Our treatment regime reflects clinical conditions, where patients could receive their first application of vitamin E in the ambulance or upon their arrival in the emergency department, before reopening and stenting the blocked vessel and the following days in hospital before discharge."
In this study, mice were subject to cardio injuries and given vitamin E for three days. Then the researchers measured the heart function of the mice.
The cardioprotective effect of α-TOH treatment compared to controls was already significant at week 1 post-I/R injury (34.6 ± 8.3 vs 48.5 ± 5.7; **p < 0.01). Similar results were obtained at week 2 (32.8 ± 8.6 vs 45.9 ± 3.7; p < 0.01), week 3 (31.9 ± 11.4 vs 46.1 ± 3.8; p < 0.001), and week 4 (30.2 ± 11.8 vs 46.1 ± 3.3
The vitamin E significantly increased the heart health of the mice almost immediately and at 4 weeks out.
The measurements of fractional shortening, cardiac output, and stroke volume also showed significant cardioprotective effects of α-TOH
Because there are no treatments that can currently protect the heart in the case of a heart attack, if these findings transfer to humans it would be quite significant.
"As there is currently no ‘treatment’ available that can reduce the cardiac damage caused by an overshooting inflammation after reopening of a blocked coronary artery, the potential impact of our finding on cardiovascular health would be signi?cant," said Dr Wallert.
Personally, I love vitamin E -- particularly those with high gamma tocopherol, and those that are fully natural rather than made from petroleum.
Some of the best vitamin E today is made from wheat germ and has all the good phytonutrients in it. And no wheat or gluten either.
Vitamin E is pretty miraculous.
I’m hoping this research pans out, because if it works the way the scientists are hoping it could mean much better outcomes for thousands of people every year who experience a heart attack.
-Matt Cook
This 1 supplement can reverse diabetes symptoms in men
Matt Cook here, and I’m always looking for natural supplements that can benefit men.
And nicotinamide riboside is a supplement which is gaining more and more of my interest.
It’s a substance which helps the body to generate energy more efficiently.
It works in a very similar way to a more common form of vitamin B3 called niacinamide.
Recent articles have been published showing that this supplement could help with Parkinson’s disease, alcoholic liver damage, and numerous metabolic health problems.
And because it improves our energy production, it can play a massive role in metabolic health.
Recent animal experiments have shown that nicotinamide riboside can help with diabetes…
…as well as many of the complications associated with that metabolic disorder.
The research was carried out at Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa. The findings were published in Nature Research Scientific Reports.
This research was carried out on rodents.
There are 2 ways in which lab animals are given type II diabetes or prediabetes.
One is using a chemical called streptozotocin, the other involves feeding the animals a high-fat diet.
Both methods produce many of the diabetes associated complications – including peripheral neuropathy.
“Mice fed on a high-fat diet become diabetic and develop insulin resistance and neuropathy. Given streptozotocin they develop type II diabetes, hyperglycaemia, severe insulin resistance and neuropathy.”
Nicotinamide riboside has the ability to increase the body’s production of something called NAD+.
NAD + is one of the most essential elements for optimal energy production.
“Because NAD + might address glycaemic control and be neuroprotective, we treated prediabetic and type II diabetic mice with nicotinamide riboside added to a high-fat diet.”
The speculation was correct, there was a whole host of benefits for these animals given nicotinamide riboside.
When prediabetic animals were fed a high-fat diet…
Blood sugar improved.
They gained less weight.
Diabetic liver damage was reduced - including hepatic steatosis.
Neuropathy was reduced or prevented.
“Nicotinamide riboside improves glucose tolerance, reduced weight gain, liver damage and the development of hepatic steatosis in prediabetic mice while protecting against sensory neuropathy.”
The researchers found similar benefits in the other mice.
Those mice were fully diabetic after having been given the toxic chemical streptozotocin.
Researchers discovered nicotinamide riboside…
Reduce blood sugar.
Reduced weight gain.
Reduced liver damage including hepatic steatosis.
Protected against diabetic neuropathy.
“In type II diabetic mice, nicotinamide riboside greatly reduced non-fasting and fasting blood glucose, weight gain and hepatic steatosis while protecting against diabetic neuropathy.”
The researchers were surprised at the extent of the benefits provided by the supplement.
They suspected they might see some benefits due to the fact that nicotinamide riboside is known to help with blood sugar control.
But the extent of the benefits – improving almost every complication of type II diabetes of type II diabetes and prediabetes – was quite a surprise.
“The protective effect of nicotinamide riboside could not be explained by glycaemic control alone.”
The researchers carried out a detailed examination of the cornea of the animals.
The cornea is a structure in the eye which could be considered part of the brain or nervous system.
It’s an easy way to assess the health of the nervous system overall.
Damage to the corneal structure is a very good indicator of neurodegeneration – damage to the brain and central nervous system.
The researchers found a remarkable protective effect from nicotinamide riboside on the corneal structure.
This indicates that the supplement protects against neurodegeneration, brain and central nervous system problems, induced by diabetes.
The researchers also looked for changes in NAD+ and related pro-energetic compounds. (NADP+ and NADPH)
As expected, nicotinamide riboside boosted these energetic compounds which are depleted by diabetes.
“NADP+ and NADPH levels were degraded in diabetes but were largely protected when mice were supplemented with nicotinamide riboside.”
Nicotinamide riboside could have massive benefits for people with diabetes because it helps the body to generate energy more efficiently.
“The data justifies testing of nicotinamide riboside in human models of obesity, type II diabetes and associated neuropathies.”
The supplement works in ways similar to a number of other supplements on the market.
This includes nicotinamide mononucleotide and the less exotic (and less expensive) niacinamide (a form of vitamin B3).