Recent Review Promotes Four Foods/Supplements for Heart Health

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Recent Review Promotes Four Foods/Supplements for Heart Health

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, December 7, 2006, abstracted from

" Bioflavonoids and Cardiovascular Health: Tea, Red Wine, Cocoa, and

Pycnogenol " posted online in the Journal of the American Nutraceutical

Association, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2006

According to the Center of Disease Control, the two primary components

of cardiovascular disease , heart disease and stroke , now affect

one in four Americans (61 million people) and are the first and third

causes of death each year. As the most common risk factor for

cardiovascular disease, one in four Americans also has high blood

pressure , which the American Heart Association has called " the true

'silent killer'(1) and has also been declared a worldwide epidemic.(2)

.. While prescription drug therapies are common in the treatment of high

blood pressure, a new study(3) has found that four supplements and foods

can also be " part of the…strategy to treat hypertension. "

TEA . Green tea is associated with health due to antioxidants called

catechins.(4) Black tea has also been found to offer comparable health

benefits,(5) due to its antioxidants called theaflavins.(6) Research has

found that green tea helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by

as much as 12%.(7)

WINE . Interest in red wine and heart health stems from the " French

paradaox " where, despite high intakes of saturated fats and little

exercise, the French have " a disproportionately lower incidence of heart

disease than other western societies " .(8) It is believed that the high

intake of red wine, which contains an antioxidant called resveratrol

which helps control inflammation and blood clotting,(9) contribute

significantly to this " paradox " .

COCOA . Long used as a medicinal remedy since ancient times,(10) the

cocoa bean is no longer looked at with disdain as a health food. This is

due to the 170 mg of flavonoid antioxidants contained in a 100 g bar of

milk chocolate bar that help maintain heart health(11) and overall blood

vessel health.(12)

PYCNOGENOL . When it comes to the effectiveness of french maritime pine

park extract, also known as pycnogenol, it is the high amounts of

bioflavonoids that help maintain healthy LDL cholesterol(13) by helping

control blood clotting(14) and inflammation(15) while also helping

maintain healthy blood vessel function.(16)

Although not cited in this study, another supplement worthy of attention

is quercetin . Not only has it been found to " be of therapeutic benefit

in cardiovascular diseases " ,(17) Quercetin has also been found to help

with mental(18) and colon health(19) as well as helping diabetics

maintain cell health.(20)

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You

can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at

mailto:ChiroDocPSUalum@... or visiting his web site

www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

1 " High Blood Pressure " posted on the American Heart Association website

2 Casas JP. Homocysteine and stroke: evidence on a causal link from

mendelian randomization. Lancet 2005; 365(9455): 224-232

3 Slayback DL. Bioflavonoids and Cardiovascular Health: Tea, Red Wine,

Cocoa, and Pycnogeno. JANA 2006; 9(2): 16-21

4 Yang GY, et al. Effect of black and green tea polyphenols on

phosphorylation and H2O2 production in transformed and non-transformed

human bronchial cell lines: possible mechanisms of cell growth

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5 Gardner EJ. Black tea – helpful or harmful? A review of the

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doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602489

6 Balentine DA, Wiseman SA, Bouwens LCM. The chemistry of tea

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7 Kuriyama S. Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular

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14 Pütter M, et al. Inhibition of smoking-induced platelet aggregation

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15 Chang WC, Hsu FL. Inhibition of platelet aggregation and arachidonate

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18 Lee, C. Y. (2004). " Protective Effects of Quercetin and Vitamin C

against Oxidative Stress-Induced Neurodegeneration. " Journal of

Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52: 7514-7517

19 P. Combination Treatment with Curcumin and Quercetin of

Adenomas in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol

2006 Aug; 4(8):1035-1038

20 Collado PS. Quercetin Decreases Oxidative Stress, NF- B Activation,

and iNOS Overexpression in Liver of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic

Rats. J. Nutr. 2005 135: 2299-2304