The physique makes nitric oxide in two methods. Cells lining the blood vessels produce nitric oxide from L-arginine, an amino acid present in meat and nuts. This course of declines with age, however the physique additionally makes nitric oxide by processing nitrates instantly from meals.
Nitrates are present in darkish, leafy greens and sure root greens, like beets. Understanding their significance requires a fast hit of chemistry.
A nitrate is made up of a nitrogen atom bonded to 3 oxygen atoms (NO3). A nitrite is a nitrogen atom bonded to only two oxygen atoms (NO2). Each are important to the physique’s manufacturing of nitric oxide from meals. Consuming nitrate-rich meals kick-starts a course of during which the physique converts nitrates to nitrites and, finally, nitric oxide.
Because the L-arginine pathway declines with age, nitrates within the weight loss plan can decide up the slack — if we’re consuming sufficient of them.
“With out nitric oxide, each perform within the physique works much less effectively.”
“By the point we attain 40, we now have misplaced roughly 50 % of our [endothelial] nitric oxide manufacturing,” says Nathan Bryan, PhD, coauthor of The Nitric Oxide (NO) Resolution. “With out nitric oxide, each perform within the physique works much less effectively.”
Blood stress is a living proof. As blood circulates, it presses in opposition to vessel partitions. In youthful our bodies, arteries and blood vessels are normally extra supple, increasing and contracting with every heartbeat. As arteries stiffen with age, stress in opposition to their partitions climbs to maintain blood flowing. When blood stress rises and stays up, it’s referred to as hypertension.
Almost half of Individuals over age 20 have hypertension. It’s a danger issue for coronary heart illness and stroke, two of the main causes of loss of life in the US. Kind 2 diabetes, vascular dementia, and power kidney illness can be triggered or exacerbated by hypertension.
“The epidemic of hypertension in our tradition has a powerful correlation to a deficiency of nitric oxide,” says functional-medicine practitioner Christopher Bump, DC. He attributes that deficiency, partially, to weak digestion.
“I don’t know why extra folks aren’t speaking about nitric oxide as a method of accelerating blood circulation,” says integrative doctor Frank Lipman, MD.
“It’s crucial and but underreported.”
