“Nitric Oxide My final player on this list is nitric oxide (NO). It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of nitric oxide (NO) on cardiovascular health. It was discovered about the same time as endothelial progenitor cells during the mid-1990s. For many years it was considered impossible that nitric oxide could exist in the hu…
“Nitric Oxide My final player on this list is nitric oxide (NO). It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of nitric oxide (NO) on cardiovascular health. It was discovered about the same time as endothelial progenitor cells during the mid-1990s. For many years it was considered impossible that nitric oxide could exist in the human body. It is a gas–or it would be if you could get enough molecules to gang together. It consists of one oxygen atom and one nitrogen atom. It is chemically written NOˉ. That floating minus sign means it has a free electron, and is a free radical, the free-est of free radicals. It should, in theory, react with anything it comes into contact with. Indeed, in any quantity it should explode, so fast would the reaction be. Which, in fact, it does. Because one source of nitric oxide is nitro-glycerine, which is one of the most powerful conventional explosives known. Interestingly, if you have angina, and you stick nitro-glycerine under your tongue your angina will disappear. Doctors don’t call it nitro-glycerine, they call it glyceryl tri-nitrate (GTN). But it is the same thing. In fact, it was workers at Alfred Nobel’s dynamite factories who first noticed that if they were–extremely carefully–stirring the nitro-glycerine mix, their angina went away. Alfred Nobel, who also had angina, refused to take glyceryl tri-nitrate when it was first developed. Maybe he thought he would explode. Which would have buggered up the Nobel Prize somewhat. For well over a hundred years, no-one had any idea exactly why glyceryl tri-nitrate got rid of angina–if only temporarily. It was then discovered that it stimulated nitric oxide synthesis. At one time, nitric oxide used to be called EDRF–endothelium derived relaxation factor. Doctors knew that something unknown, produced by the endothelium, opened up (dilated) blood vessels, they just didn’t know what it was. Turns out it was a hyper radical, potentially explosive, gas. Who knew? However, nitric oxide does far, far, more than to simply dilate narrowed coronary arteries, which is the underlying cause of angina. It also lowers blood pressure by opening up arteries elsewhere in the body. In addition, it stimulates the production of new endothelial progenitor cells in the bone marrow. If that were not enough, nitric oxide prevents anything sticking to the glycocalyx/ endothelium. In fact, it is the most powerful anticoagulant agent known. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that nitric oxide is the single most important molecule for cardiovascular health there is. Which means anything that reduces its production will increase the risk of CVD, and vice-versa. “Adequate levels of endothelial NO are important to preserve normal vascular physiology—in the face of diminished NO bioavailability, there is endothelial dysfunction, leading to increased susceptibility to atherosclerotic disease.” 69 Nitric oxide is also where CVD and erectile dysfunction overlap. “Nitric oxide (NO) is a physiologic signal essential to penile erection, and disorders that reduce NO synthesis or release in the erectile tissue are commonly associated with erectile dysfunction.” 70 If you have erectile dysfunction, and you rub glyceryl tri-nitrate cream on your penis, it can give you an erection. Glyceryl tri-nitrate cream has been called ‘dynamite’ cream because, yes, dynamite contains a very high concentration of nitro-glycerine. A little play on words. ‘I’m dynamite in bed, baby… ding, dong. Kaboom.’ Yes, if you increase nitric oxide in the blood vessels of the penis, you will treat erectile dysfunction. Which is how Viagra (sildenafil) works. 71 The slight irony here is that Viagra was being developed as a drug to treat angina–opening up the arteries in the heart. The volunteers in the early clinical trials did not hand their tablets back, which was unusual. The rest, as they say, is history. A further thing that you might not expect is that the action of sunlight on the skin creates nitric oxide. This lowers the blood pressure and has major benefits on CVD, outlined in the paper “Sunlight Has Cardiovascular Benefits Independently of Vitamin D.” “Skin contains significant stores of nitrogen oxides, which can be converted to NO by UV radiation and exported to the systemic circulation. Human studies show that this pathway can cause arterial vasodilatation and reduced BP.” 72 Which may well be why avoiding the sun can be as bad for you as smoking. A fact described in this Swedish study “Avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for major causes of death: a competing risk analysis of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort”: “Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking. Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6–2.1 years. “The longer life expectancy amongst women with active sun exposure habits was related to a decrease in CVD.” 73 Here, then, is the power of that little molecule nitric oxide revealed. Which is why I am contemplating having a new line of t-shirts printed. ‘Say YES to NO’. Specifically designed to be taken off outdoors.”
— The Clot Thickens: The enduring mystery of heart disease by Malcolm Kendrick
Just move out or urban areas and you will find sanity everywhere in this country. Look at the red/blue maps of last couple elections. Blue geographic areas are small densely populated urban areas. The rest of the country is red. Thanks for this Nitric Oxide info... and good info about just getting outside in the sunshine every day... and eat foods with lycopeine... tomatoes + avocado happen to be synergistically powerful in preventing sunburn.
Agree! I always do... learned tomato seeds are not digested by humans some time ago. Funny story made short... my brother once toured a large urban sewage system and observed all these plants growing. He queried where they came from... the head of operations told him they were all tomato plants!!
My grandma used to take a little pill every day. She called it her “nitro pill”. That was a couple decades ago! She was very overweight but still lived to be 88 years old.
“Nitric Oxide My final player on this list is nitric oxide (NO). It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of nitric oxide (NO) on cardiovascular health. It was discovered about the same time as endothelial progenitor cells during the mid-1990s. For many years it was considered impossible that nitric oxide could exist in the human body. It is a gas–or it would be if you could get enough molecules to gang together. It consists of one oxygen atom and one nitrogen atom. It is chemically written NOˉ. That floating minus sign means it has a free electron, and is a free radical, the free-est of free radicals. It should, in theory, react with anything it comes into contact with. Indeed, in any quantity it should explode, so fast would the reaction be. Which, in fact, it does. Because one source of nitric oxide is nitro-glycerine, which is one of the most powerful conventional explosives known. Interestingly, if you have angina, and you stick nitro-glycerine under your tongue your angina will disappear. Doctors don’t call it nitro-glycerine, they call it glyceryl tri-nitrate (GTN). But it is the same thing. In fact, it was workers at Alfred Nobel’s dynamite factories who first noticed that if they were–extremely carefully–stirring the nitro-glycerine mix, their angina went away. Alfred Nobel, who also had angina, refused to take glyceryl tri-nitrate when it was first developed. Maybe he thought he would explode. Which would have buggered up the Nobel Prize somewhat. For well over a hundred years, no-one had any idea exactly why glyceryl tri-nitrate got rid of angina–if only temporarily. It was then discovered that it stimulated nitric oxide synthesis. At one time, nitric oxide used to be called EDRF–endothelium derived relaxation factor. Doctors knew that something unknown, produced by the endothelium, opened up (dilated) blood vessels, they just didn’t know what it was. Turns out it was a hyper radical, potentially explosive, gas. Who knew? However, nitric oxide does far, far, more than to simply dilate narrowed coronary arteries, which is the underlying cause of angina. It also lowers blood pressure by opening up arteries elsewhere in the body. In addition, it stimulates the production of new endothelial progenitor cells in the bone marrow. If that were not enough, nitric oxide prevents anything sticking to the glycocalyx/ endothelium. In fact, it is the most powerful anticoagulant agent known. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that nitric oxide is the single most important molecule for cardiovascular health there is. Which means anything that reduces its production will increase the risk of CVD, and vice-versa. “Adequate levels of endothelial NO are important to preserve normal vascular physiology—in the face of diminished NO bioavailability, there is endothelial dysfunction, leading to increased susceptibility to atherosclerotic disease.” 69 Nitric oxide is also where CVD and erectile dysfunction overlap. “Nitric oxide (NO) is a physiologic signal essential to penile erection, and disorders that reduce NO synthesis or release in the erectile tissue are commonly associated with erectile dysfunction.” 70 If you have erectile dysfunction, and you rub glyceryl tri-nitrate cream on your penis, it can give you an erection. Glyceryl tri-nitrate cream has been called ‘dynamite’ cream because, yes, dynamite contains a very high concentration of nitro-glycerine. A little play on words. ‘I’m dynamite in bed, baby… ding, dong. Kaboom.’ Yes, if you increase nitric oxide in the blood vessels of the penis, you will treat erectile dysfunction. Which is how Viagra (sildenafil) works. 71 The slight irony here is that Viagra was being developed as a drug to treat angina–opening up the arteries in the heart. The volunteers in the early clinical trials did not hand their tablets back, which was unusual. The rest, as they say, is history. A further thing that you might not expect is that the action of sunlight on the skin creates nitric oxide. This lowers the blood pressure and has major benefits on CVD, outlined in the paper “Sunlight Has Cardiovascular Benefits Independently of Vitamin D.” “Skin contains significant stores of nitrogen oxides, which can be converted to NO by UV radiation and exported to the systemic circulation. Human studies show that this pathway can cause arterial vasodilatation and reduced BP.” 72 Which may well be why avoiding the sun can be as bad for you as smoking. A fact described in this Swedish study “Avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for major causes of death: a competing risk analysis of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort”: “Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking. Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6–2.1 years. “The longer life expectancy amongst women with active sun exposure habits was related to a decrease in CVD.” 73 Here, then, is the power of that little molecule nitric oxide revealed. Which is why I am contemplating having a new line of t-shirts printed. ‘Say YES to NO’. Specifically designed to be taken off outdoors.”
— The Clot Thickens: The enduring mystery of heart disease by Malcolm Kendrick
https://a.co/eGOc57b
Another reason to move to sunny Florida……😂🤪👌
Only if you vote Republican. Democrats have gone off the rails and they muck up any place they are the majority.
Just move out or urban areas and you will find sanity everywhere in this country. Look at the red/blue maps of last couple elections. Blue geographic areas are small densely populated urban areas. The rest of the country is red. Thanks for this Nitric Oxide info... and good info about just getting outside in the sunshine every day... and eat foods with lycopeine... tomatoes + avocado happen to be synergistically powerful in preventing sunburn.
Agree! I always do... learned tomato seeds are not digested by humans some time ago. Funny story made short... my brother once toured a large urban sewage system and observed all these plants growing. He queried where they came from... the head of operations told him they were all tomato plants!!
My grandma used to take a little pill every day. She called it her “nitro pill”. That was a couple decades ago! She was very overweight but still lived to be 88 years old.