Circulatory Support: Nutrition for Vascular Health

Nutrition for improved vascular health

One could say vascular health begins and ends with the heart, but issues with veins and arteries extend to other parts of the body, such as the skin, brain and lungs. Arteries carry blood away from the heart, to the rest of the body, while veins deliver blood back to the heart. Both types of blood vessels are important to enriching the body with nutrients and compounds vital for survival. Even the small capillaries, the body’s smallest blood vessels, are important to the system, as they shuttle blood and nutrients to and from vessels to surrounding tissue. Unfortunately, diet, lifestyle, genetics and environmental factors can disrupt the integrity of veins and arteries, causing vascular-related discomforts and disease.

Veins deep in the leg muscles are responsible for taking blood back to the heart from the lower extremities. Movement of leg muscles, such as walking, helps pump the blood through these veins. However, another set of veins in the legs reside closer to the surface, near the skin layer. These superficial veins are the most visible victims of varicosis, a condition causing the veins to enlarge and become twisted due to blood flowing backward through faulty valves in leg veins. In addition to being unsightly, varicose veins can be painful under high pressure.

A few natural products may help, at least in early stages of varicosis. For decades, diosmin, a citrus flavonoid, was used to treat microcirculatory problems such as varicose veins. Diosmin supports hormones, or neurotransmitters, which help the vein wall constrict and keep blood flowing in the right direction. Often paired with fellow flavonoid hesperidin, diosmin also improves microcirculation via reduced capillar y permeability and helps curtail vascular inflammation.^1,2,3 This combination has been linked to improved symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), the inability of leg veins to pump enough blood to the heart, due to the same valve issues that lead to varicosis. A multi-center, international trial involving 23 countries and 5,052 CVI symptomatic patients taking 450 mg diosmin and 50 mg hesperidin for two years.⁴ This micronized, purified flavonoid fraction (MPFF) reduced symptoms of CVI, including swelling and edema.

A blend of bioflavonoid portions sourced from pine bark (as Pycnogenol®, from Natural Health Sciences) has been shown effective in both CVI and varicose veins.⁵ In 2007, a study comparing Pycnogenol and Daflon (90 percent diosmin, 10 percent hesperidin) on CVI symptoms revealed the pine bark extract had the greater effect on edema (leg swelling), tight calves, skin alterations, pain during walking and swelling limbs. In fact, microcirculatory test results showed progressively decreased skin flux at rest, decreased capillary filtration, improved symptomatic venous scores and reduced edema in most subjects taking Pycnogenol, while fewer in the Daflon group saw improvements, which also tended to be more limited. Peter Rohdewald, Ph.D., lead researcher of the study, noted 150 mg/d is sufficient to reap the improvements in CVI; higher doses have shown no additional benefits.

Pycnogenol addresses other aspects of venous disease. CVI may also be caused by thrombosis, blood clot formation in a deep vein, especially the leg. Again, due to the role of muscle contractions in pumping blood back to the heart, periods of prolonged sitting, such as in airplane traveling, greatly increases the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In addition to edema, varices and other CVI complications, DVT’s biggest threat to health is if the clot travels to the lungs and blocks an artery, a dangerous problem known as pulmonary embolism.

Zinopin®, a supplement available from Dr. Schurr’s, is designed to combat DVT and features Pycnogenol and ginger root extract. Airplane passengers taking Pycnogenol two to three hours before their flights (average flight time was 8.25 hrs) experienced only non-thrombotic phlebitis (vein inflammation), while the placebo group experienced both DVT and superficial thromboses.⁶

As is the modern way, research on CVI and varicose veins has focused on gene expression. In 2007, French scientists reported the overexpression of matrix GLA protein is associated with increased MGP levels, which contribute to CVI and varices by amplifying mineralization of the venous wall.⁷

Eric Anderson, marketing manager with P.L. Thomas, which offers MenaQ7™ vitamin K2, explained MGP is activated by vitamin K, and calcification can result from insufficient levels or activity of vitamin K and MGP. “Without enough vitamin K2, calcification increases in the intima-media (artery wall layers), which then hardens,” he said. “When excess calcium is allowed to accumulate and is not cycled back out, the vein becomes less flexible and can harden from mineral deposits, much like mineral deposits on a sink.”

Vitamin K’s effects on arterial calcification have drawn interest on its possible benefits to other areas of vascular health. A part of the Rotterdam Study included data on vitamin K and coronary heart disease (CHD).⁸ Intake of vitamin K2, as menaquinone, was inversely linked to risk of CHD mortality, sever aortic calcification and all-cause mortality in CHD. Vitamin K1, phylloquinone, intake was not linked to any of those parameters.

Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables but is also particularly rich in natto, a fermented soy food. Anderson noted MenaQ7, derived from natto, is often found in bone formulas due to its ability to affect calcium use in the bones, but interest has increased in K2 for vascular formulas in the wake of researched benefits.

Nattokinase, another component of natto, is a fibrinolytic enzyme with four-times more fibrinolytic activity (degrade fibrin) than the endogenous enzyme plasmin, which aids in inhibiting blood clot format ion. This is the mechanism behind nattokinase’s proven ability to reduce arterial wall thickening and even risk of DVT.^9,10 Nattokinase can be found in formulas from Jarrow, Enzymedica, Naturally Vitamins and Nutricology.

In addition to providing natto, soy is a source of protein and phytoestrogens shown useful in vascular health, notably in the area of blood lipid control. Controlling certain blood lipids, including cholesterol, as well as prohibiting the oxidation of lipids is crucial to avoiding plaque formation.

Soy protein not only lowers total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and homocysteine,^11,12 but it also enhances the cholesterol - lowering abilit y of plant sterols.¹³ Soy phytoestrogens can improve blood lipid profile, including total cholesterol levels, as well as improve the ratio of LDL to high-density lipoprotein (HDL).^14,15 These soy compounds can also lower blood pressure¹⁶ and help control C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of dangerous vascular inflammation, which can cause atherosclerot ic problems.¹⁷

Additional benefits to the blood vessels include soy estrogens’ ability to promote vascular relaxation while cur tailing vasoconstriction.¹⁸ It may actually promote vasodilation (opening of the vessels) by affecting the activities of nitricoxide(NO) synthase and production of prostacyclin, both known vasodilator compounds.^19,20

Soy is only one fraction of the natural circulatory aids market. To capitalize on the broad range of ingredients beneficial to vascular health, especially relative to hear t disease, manufacturers have formulated finished products with a number of these compounds. Among its offerings, Carlson Labs has Hear tbeat Elite™ Scientifically Complete, which contains an array of vitamins and minerals, as well as coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), Lcarnitine, grape seed extract and alpha lipoic acid (ALA).

Vitamins provide a number of benefits, including reduction of both lipids and lipid peroxidation. Vitamin E, as gamma-tocopherol, reduces LDL levels and slows platelet aggregation, the adhesion of blood cells to each other and the vascular walls.²¹ Its tocotrienol forms, including palm tocotrienol complex , al so lower cholesterol and risk of atherosclerosis.^22,23

Additionally, vitamin E curbs lipidperoxidation, but only with the help of vitamin C, another antioxidant that addresses cholesterol and vascular endothelialfunction.^24,25,26 While B vitamins are not known for antioxidant powers, they continue to make a large impression on vascular function. Folate intake appears to level off with age,²⁷ just when the need for folate in the veins increases.²⁸ This B vitamin improves the functioning of the endothelium, the blood vessel inner lining,²⁹ and lowers the risk of both vascular disease (in tandem with B12) and high blood pressure.^30,31 Vitamin B3, known as niacin, addresses dyslipidemia in vascular heath— it’s especially noted for increasing HDL—and can also improve endothelial function, reduce inflammation, increase plaque stability and diminish thrombosis.^32,33,34

The mineral magnesium also controls lipid levels,³⁵ According to Ken Whitman, vice president of marketing at Peter Gillham’s Natural Vitality, magnesium inhibits the HMG-CoA reductase, the same enzyme statin drugs work on. “Thus, the mineral lowers the bad cholesterol, it slows down the making of plaque inside the arteries, it relaxes the arteries, it promotes an enzyme called LCAT which drags cholesterol off the arterial wall, and it raises the HDL,” he said.

But it is most-known for its role in managing blood pressure. Not only has deficiency of magnesium been inked to hypertension,³⁶ which increases the risk of ruptured arterial plaques, but administration of the mineral has also been shown to lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.³⁷ Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., author of The Magnesium Miracle, explained magnesium prevents muscle spasms of the peripheral blood vessels, which can lead to high blood pressure. Sherry Rogers, M.D., practicing physician and molecular biology researcher, added, “All you have to do is get enough magnesium in those coronary vessels and they no longer go into spasm.”

Considering the scope of the circulatory system’s work throughout the body, including organs and extremities, there are many areas of health that overlap vascular health. Supplements in the vascular category tend to combine a number of antioxidants, vasodilators and mitochondrial managers into one product, although single-nutrient products still exist. More importantly, a supplement for vascular health should feature ingredients supported by scientific studies for circulatory benefits.

References

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