Free Over the Counter Natural Cures by Shane Ellison

“relaxing,” or dilating. This ensures that blood flow continues without interruption. This protection is primarily dependent on the short-lived molecule known as nitric oxide, or NO.
    Robert F. Furchgott, PhD, Louis J. Ignarro, PhD, and Ferid Murad, MD, PhD, received the Nobel Prize for the paramount discovery concerning nitric oxide. Supplementation with L-arginine andgrape-seed extract can help ensure the healthy production of NO, and the subsequent relaxing and dilation of arteries when needed.
    Most heart attacks and strokes occur when Nature’s Band-Aid ruptures. The rupturing triggers the emergence of a blood clot (thrombus). The combination of narrow arteries and a blood clot completes the blockage. This prevents blood from reaching downstream to the heart or brain, or both. This condition is known as “ischemia.” A heart attack or stroke is the outcome when the heart or brain is deprived of blood and oxygen.
    STOPPING THE NUMBER-ONE ARTERY BUTCHER
    The entire cycle leading to premature heart attack and stroke can be prevented—or at least slowed. To do this, you need to reduce or eliminate the artery butchers from the blood. Smokers can start now by tossing the cigarette. The next place to start is by avoiding large amounts of homocysteine. Outside of quitting smoking, that is the best place to start.
    Homocysteine is a natural by-product of amino acid metabolism in the body. Among healthy individuals, it’s quickly processed into harmless methionine. But if homocysteine isn’t biochemically converted, it floats in the bloodstream and wreaks havoc on the cardiovascular system.
    Famed chemist Kilmer McCully, MD, made the homocysteine and heart disease connection in the early 1990s while at Harvard. He found that homocysteine had a high affinity for collagen, a key component of arteries. In excess (greater than 16 μmol/l), homocysteine “sinks its claws” into coronary arteries. As time passes, it can set off the entire heart-disease cascade, eventually culminating in the formation of Nature’s Band-Aid, inflammation.
    Mckully’s remedy was readily accessible folic acid. He found that folic acid declaws homocysteine by converting it into harmless methionine. He was all but shunned by peers who held tight to the cholesterolhypothesis. But today, some key studies have confirmed his findings, while the cholesterol hypothesis is becoming a mainstream pastime.
    In 2006, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology highlighted a review of all previous studies done on homocysteine levels and risk for heart disease. Their conclusion was that a “plethora of studies” demonstrate “plausible mechanisms” that implicate elevated homocysteine in promoting heart disease, leading to attack and stroke. 55
    Harvard researchers writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that women could cut their risk of heart disease byhalf with daily consumption of 500 milligrams of folic acid and other B vitamins. Men can expect to have the same benefit. 56
    Other researchers evaluated homocysteine studies recently in the British Medical Journal . In their review of the clinical trials involvingfolic acid and the lowering of homocysteine, they showed that even a small 3 μmol/l drop in homocysteine (achievable with 0.8 milligrams a day of folic acid) lowers the risk of myocardial infarction by 15 percent and stroke by 24 percent. Their powerful conclusion: “We therefore take the view that the evidence is now sufficient to justify action on lowering homocysteine concentrations.” 57
    Another study done, performed in China, gives more evidence of folic acids benefits. The researchers found that men who took a multivitamin with folic acid and other B-vitamins daily were 60 percent less likely to die of stroke. 58
    To this day, McCully’s findings show that the simple act of ensuring folic acid intake may ward off heart disease. But