No More Heart Disease: How Nitric Oxide Can Prevent--Even Reverse--Heart Disease and Strokes

This book is easy to read, interesting, and full of potentially life-saving information. By the time I had read enough to learn how to improve my heart health, and followed Dr. Ignarro's recommendations, I lowered my blood pressure from 140/88 to a very low 90/57! Later readings were more in the normal range of 120/70...this after 30 years of hypertension! The only real changes I made were in diet, and adding a couple of amino acids that were the basis of the dramatic drop in blood pressure. I am recommending this book to my friends and loved ones with heart disease.

I happened to pick this up in Borders one day...having a scientific background i remember the 1998 Nobel Prize and NO(nitric oxide). NO activates the production of cyclic GMP, a critical messenger in human cells and responsible for vascular relaxation and other stimulatory events...including the well known Viagra response. NO is a gas which easily diffuses through the human body and acts as a hormone. Indeed NO may be the most relevant discovery in medicine along with aspirin and penicillin. Dr Ignarro is brilliant...i believe he wrote this book so that the average Joe could improve his heart and sexual health and he recommends taking the naturally occuring nutrients arginine and citrulline to increase NO levels. Unfortunately the average Joe with early heart disease responds to all the TV ads and will take Viagra as prescribed by his doctor. Ignarro's recommendations are much safer and effective for long term improvement of heart disease and high blood pressure problems. Sadly most doctors will not know this.

Nitric Oxide keeps arteries and veins free of the plaque that causes stroke. Healthy NO levels necessitate the following nutritional supplements: L-arginine 4-6 grams, L-citruline 200-1000 mg, Vitamin C 500 mg, Vitamin E 200 iu, Folic Acid B9 400-800 mg, and Alpha lipoic acid 10mg. L-arginine enhances blood flow because it is converted into NO in the body. L-citrulline is converted into L-arginine which in turn increases the production of NO. L-citrulline is necessary for the increased production of L-arginine. Nerve cells in the brain and lungs produce NO. The white blood cells produce NO in such large quantities that the NO can help overpower attacking microorganisms. Doses of L-arginine less than 4-6 grams will produce 0% increase in NO. NO activates enzymes that produce cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP), a 100 fold. GMP is the agent that causes the smooth muscle walls of the Endothelium cells, of the blood vessel, too relax and widen. The result is an increased flow of blood and oxygen to the heart and a decline in blood pressure readings. There are two blood pressure readings too monitor: systolic pressure, the force on your arterial wall as the heart contracts and diastolic, the pressure on the wall when your heart relaxes. 50 million Americans have high blood pressure, 32% have hypertension and 26% are taking high blood pressure medicine. If the arteries are relaxed and widen then blood flows more easily and blood pressure decreases. The optimal condition is when your vessels around your heart are flexible with a diameter of about 3 millimeters. Danger occurs when atherosclerosis starts to form. Atherosclerosis is a process of plaque accumulation that leads to the hardening of the arteries. Healthy endothelial cells are slick like Teflon. Fatty buildup is composed of low density lipoproteins (LDL 10 million patients are taking LDL cholestrol lower medicine), waste products of the cells, calicium (nanobacteria deposits), and fibrin. Once plaque becomes brittle, the plaque can crack and rapture and dislodge from the arterial walls. The body responds to this rupture by causing a blood clot to form. The result is blood blockage and heart attack. When the endothelial cell is damaged, the body releases monocytes and leukocytes that release chemicals called inflammatory mediators that trigger inflammation (Periconne thesis).

Dr. Louis J. Ignarro, a Nobel Laureate in Medicine, has compiled the history of a discovery that continues to be proven to "Prevent-Even Reverse-Heart Disease and Strokes" and specifically describes "A Proven Program for Boosting Production of the Body's Own Wonder Drug" in "NO MORE HEART DISEASE", St. Martin's Press 2005, 248 pages. Dr. Ignarro's preliminary research explained that there was a naturally occurring substance that C-Laureate Dr. Robert Furchgott called "endothelium-derived relaxing factor" (EDRF). Dr "I" identified Nitric Oxide (NO) between 1978 and by 1986 proved that "nitric oxide's role in the body was definitely a signal molecule, which performed crucial cardiovascular functions." Arterial plaque he illustrated, "if you think of the living healthy wall cells as being slick like Teflon, while an unhealthy cell is sticky like Velcro, causing plaque to attach" then you've got his idea. His program titled, "Say Yes to NO" recognizes that "red meat fish, olive oil, nuts and pomegranate juice enhance the body's ability to produce NO. Unfortunately he cautions, you would have to eat one hefty steak all three meals a day to maintain a beneficial level of NO. Therefore he recommends a NO boosting blend of amino acid supplements: L-Arginine, L-Citrulline plus Alpha Lipoic Acid, C, E, and Folic Acid and adds, "the acceleration of blood that occurs during exercise can stimulate the production of the enzyme NO synthase, which is important to the body's production of NO." That means it works better if you exercise! Although this 2005 book publicizes NO's effect it doesn't include John P. Cooke MD Ph.D, the head of Stanford's Medical Research team as the first to include L'Arginine in a candy bar to tempt the American public to get NO every day and only mentions co-Laureate Ferid Murad, the Houston pharmacologist who conducted the earliest studies on nitric oxide. Some will try to get enough L-arginine and L-Citrulline from foods but the short list only includes: almonds, dark chocolate, garbanzo beans, melons, peanuts, red meat, salmon, soy and walnuts. The good news for choco-holics, a prodigious Penn State U study concluded, "that the cocoa/dark chocolate diet interfered with the oxidation of LDL cholesterol." So, Dr. I suggests consuming in moderation - "divide it in small pieces and eat them throughout the afternoon and evening, one bite at a time." Therefore, next time you're asked to go for coffee, choose cocoa (hot chocolate) because the poly phenols Harvard Med School and Brigham Woman's Hospital showed that the "antioxidants in cocoa support NO synthesis." Or, drink a glass or two of red wine because it's rich in polyphenols that "markedly stimulate NO production." Purple grape or pomegranate juice may even be better than wine, and don't forget to eat some blueberries because they contain pectin, which is best known for its cholesterol lowering fiber. To get all the best results, when should you boost your body's production o

This book was very informative. I talked in depth with my cardiologist about Nitric Oxide and he agreed to allow me to start the supplement program. After only 3 days on the supplements and for the first time in years, the arthritis in my hands left me alone. Thanks to this book, I have added more foods, that help your body create more NO, to my diet. I feel that this book will help me live a longer and healthier life. All my thanks to Dr. Ignarro.