Things That Are Good For Your Heart
Your heart is a unique organ, different than all the others because it never rests. It speeds up as you increase activity and slows as you decrease activity. Plus, it pumps more than a gallon of blood per minute, but never, ever stops as long as you live.1 If it does, you die. This is not meant to be a scare tactic, but to remind you that taking care of your heart health is very important. This is especially true if you already have a condition or had heart problems in the past. Consequently, what you put in your body has a huge impact on how this amazing pump works for good or bad. Thus, the best heart health supplements should be part of your daily intake.
Coenzyme Q-10 / Ubiquinol For Better Beats
In the first place, CoQ-10 is a nutrient that helps your cells convert food into energy. This is especially important to the heart that is producing energy all the time.2 In fact, this is why it is one of the best heart health supplements available. Consequently, it comes in two forms, ubiquinone, or CoQ-10 (the inactive form) and ubiquinol that your cells can use immediately. Your heart, especially with age, doesn’t always get enough to provide optimal health.3 As a matter of fact, it doesn’t just protect the heart either, it protects all your cells from free radical damage as a powerful antioxidant.4
However, in a more ironic vein, statin drugs, which improve heart health by decreasing cholesterol, actually depletes this vital nutrient (remember how it is essential in the production of energy in cells of the heart?).5 So if you are taking one of these (Lipitor, Zocor, any of the “cors”), you should doubly consider this supplement.
Fish Oil and Good Heart Health
It turns out that fish oil has about a zillion health benefits. And of course, some of those belong to your heart, which is why it is one of the great heart health supplements. Subsequently, there are two significant fats found in it, the short names for which are EPA and DHA. These both fit in the “good fats“ category unlike saturated or trans fat. In any case, fish oil reduces triglycerides, or fat in the blood, improving artery health.6 It also reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, hypertension and prevents some arrhythmias (unusual heart beat).
Despite the benefits, some folks worry about mercury and other toxins in fish products. While it is true that fish can be contaminated, most are within “acceptable” levels and pills are distilled, a fancy way of saying the toxins are removed.7 This is especially true of the products you will find here.8 Incidentally, we will not recommend a product that is anything but top-notch.
Red Yeast Rice For Cholesterol Control and Heart Health
You have certainly heard of statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor that lower cholesterol. In fact, you may already be taking one, but it turns out that they lower levels of CoQ10. But didn’t we just say that CoQ-10 is essential to the proper function of your heart?9 One of the common side effects of these drugs is muscle pain. This is likely because the muscles (including the heart) can’t produce enough energy.
In fact, supplemental CoQ-10 reduces pain resulting from statins significantly.9 Red yeast rice is a statin as well, and powerful in the realm of heart health supplements, but is all natural. It is even used as an alternative to statin drugs for patients that cannot tolerate them due to their side effects, and there are many! As it turns out, it works great at helping your body manage cholesterol11 and thus greatly reduce your chances of a heart attack.
References
