Similar to a kinked or defective hose, stiff arteries have trouble delivering blood to vital organs.
To improve cardiovascular health, health professionals often recommend making key dietary and lifestyle changes: healthy weight management, receiving optimal nutrition, getting quality amounts of sleep, managing stress, exercising regularly, and, of course, avoiding smoking.
Lately, the Isagenix Research and Science team has been evaluating an important and exciting technology to demonstrate the heart-healthy benefits of Isagenix systems. This technology works by measuring what’s known as arterial stiffness—which goes well beyond other tools for assessing heart health because it delves deep within our arteries, providing a more comprehensive assessment.
What Is Arterial Stiffness?
Before we discuss the technology, let’s review the function and structure of arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that act like highways in our bodies, delivering oxygen and vital nutrients to various organs. They are made up of a variety of tissues including connective tissues rich in collagen (think: skin) and elastic tissue (think: muscles). Similar to public roads and highways, arteries will show signs of wear and tear over time.
Beyond aging itself, there are several dietary and lifestyle factors that can cause arteries to increasingly stiffen, lose their flexibility, and even harden. In fact, inflammation and increased blood pressure are the two major determining factors for arterial stiffness. Under these conditions, pressure within the arteries increases resulting in arterial stiffness and poor arterial health. You can think of an artery like a hose. If you run water through a hose as you normally would, the water smoothly flows with just the right pressure. However, when a hose is kinked or you step on it and block the flow, the water builds much higher pressure and can’t flow smooth as it should. Once realeased, that water will forcefully shoot out. The same analogy happens within the artery and the forceful blasting can be equated with damage to cells in the artery wall.
Knowing how revealing arterial health can be for overall heart health status, researchers have invented a new technology that allows scientists to obtain a precise map of arterial pressures in the body. It’s this technology that has Isagenix scientists excited, too—because it offers a way for us to show how well Isagenix products are at protecting blood vessels against the ravages of aging.
Dietary and Lifestyle Factors can Improve Your Arterial Health
Many Isagenix products are rich in nutrients scientifically demonstrated to reduce arterial stiffness. For example, weight reduction alone can improve arterial health (1). Combining weight loss with increased consumption of dairy proteins (such as whey protein) is shown to produce even greater improvements in heart health (2,3). Relatedly, in a just-published study by researchers from Florida State University, obese women who combined exercise with a diet rich in milk proteins significantly reduced arterial stiffness compared to those who consumed carbohydrates in place of protein (4). Other heart-health promoting nutrients associated with improvements in arterial stiffness include vitamin D (5,6), long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (7,8), coenzyme Q10 (9), and polyphenols abundant in fruits and vegetables (10).
Indeed, Isagenix provides you with the tools needed to support your arteries. Get optimal amounts of dairy proteins from IsaLean Shakes and Soups, use adaptogen-rich Ionix Supreme for maximal stress management, perform Cleanse Days once or twice a week or biweekly using Cleanse For Life, and finally, supplement daily with Ageless Essentials Daily Pack—-your complete healthy aging solution—that provides the body with optimal dosages daily of heart-healthy essential vitamins including vitamin D and K2, minerals, bioactives such as CoQ, and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
To your heart!
References
- Nordstrand N et al. Arterial stiffness, lifestyle intervention and a low-calorie diet in morbidly obese patients-a nonrandomized clinical trial. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2013;21:690-7.
- Pal S, Radavelli-Bagatini S. The effects of whey protein on cardiometabolic risk factors. Obes Rev 2013; 14:324-43.
- Crichton GE et al. Relations between dairy food intake and arterial stiffness: pulse wave velocity and pulse pressure. Hypertension 2012;59:1044-51.
- Figueroa A et al. Effects of Milk Proteins and Combined Exercise Training on Aortic Hemodynamics and Arterial Stiffness in Young Obese Women With High Blood Pressure. Am J Hypertens 2014; 27:338-44.
- Al MheidI et al. Vitamin D status is associated with arterial stiffness and vascular dysfunction in healthy humans. J Am Coll Cardio 2011;58:186-92.
- Giallauria F et al. Arterial stiffness and vitamin D levels: the Baltimore longitudinal study of aging. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2012:97:3717-23.
- Wong AT et al. Supplementation with n3 fatty acid ethyl esters increases large and small artery elasticity in obese adults on a weight loss diet. J Nutr 2013;143:437-41.
- Sanders TA et al. Effect of low doses of long-chain n-3 PUFAs on endothelial function and arterial stiffness: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2011;94:973-80.
- Lee YJ et al. Effects of coenzyme Q10 on arterial stiffness, metabolic parameters, and fatigue in obese subjects: a double-blind randomized controlled study. J Med Foods 2011;14:386-90.
- Jennings A et al. Higher anthocyanin intake is associated with lower arterial stiffness and central blood pressure in women. Am J Clin Nutr 2012;96:781-8.
