IT’S THE LOVE MONTH. LOVE YOUR HEART TOO!
by Renato “Waterdok” Paragas, M.D.
Love is most manifested in February because it is the Love Month. One particular object that is always associated with love is the heart. Thus, please allow me to share some thoughts of the heart this month.
Medically, the heart is the main organ of the cardiovascular system. Others include the arteries, the veins and the blood. Together, they comprise the cardiovascular system.
A study was conducted regarding the Year 2020 top ten diseases with the most expensive treatments and the most expensive medical treatment belonged to heart diseases. People all over the world spent US$123.4 billion for medicines, surgeries and diagnostic procedures. Coronary artery disease and heart attack were the most common problems. (https://listtop10s.com/top-10-diseases-with-most-expensive-treatments/) Cancer came in second at US$99.4 billion.
The study indicated that people are suffering from the disease so commonly because of unhealthy lifestyle, smoking, cholesterol full foods, excessive drinking, lack of exercise, obesity, hypertension, and kidney disease. These risk factors are very difficult to control, so, may I share some of my thoughts on how to elude this dreaded disease in a very natural way?
Let me discuss about the cardiovascular system first. The cardiovascular system works just like the community water district. The pump distributes water and this requires a certain pressure to reach the consumers. The pump and the pipeline are the heart and the arteries. After the usage, water drains down the drainage system. This is the venous system. There must be an optimal consistency of the blood and pressure within the blood vessels to distribute blood to all bodily tissues and to prevent injury to the blood vessel lining. Any change of this norm will affect the consistency of the blood and the blood pressure resulting to a cardiovascular disease that will affect the heart most.
The blood is composed to blood cells and plasma. The cells are red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. It is between 80-90 percent water, thus, the blood is a fluid substance.
When you do not drink adequate volume of water daily; drink alcoholic beverages regularly; take caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea, soft drinks, energy drinks and chocolates; and take diuretics such as furosemide, spironolactone and hydrochlorothiazide, you will go into a state of unintentional chronic dehydration. According to Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, the author of the book “Your Body’s Many Cries For Water,” in a state of unintentional chronic dehydration, 66 percent of water inside the cell is lost; 26 percent of water outside the cell is lost and eight percent of water in the blood is lost.
When water in the blood is lost, the blood becomes thicker, requiring the heart to exert more force to pump it. This extra force required by the heart to pump blood increases pressure resulting to high blood pressure or hypertension. If your doctor entertains this as the cause of your hypertension, he will prescribe beta blockers such as atenolol, metoprolol, nadolol, propranolol, and timolol.
With less water available in the blood, less water reaches the kidneys. This organ is very sensitive to changes in the fluid content of the body. When the kidneys recognize the water depletion, it activates the release of vasopressin, a hormone that constricts the blood vessels. This squeeze causes the elevation of blood pressure resulting to hypertension. If your doctor entertains this as the cause of your hypertension, he will prescribe vasodilators such as hydralazine and minoxidil and calcium channel blockers such as amlodipine, diltiazem, nifedipine and verapamil.
Another event that results when water is depleted in the blood is that the blood volume decreases and less blood reaches the kidneys. This will activate the renin-angiotensin system that, after a series of chemical reactions, results to the release of angiotensin II, a very potent vasoconstrictor that causes increase in the blood pressure. If your doctor entertains this as the cause of your hypertension, he will prescribe angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor such as benazepril, captopril, enalapril, quinapril and Ramipril or angiotensin II receptor blocker such as losartan, candesartan, irbesartan, olmesartan and telmisartan.
Hypertension does not only cause additional burden to the heart but it also increases the resistance of flow against the blood vessel walls. This will cause injury to blood vessel lining. When this happens, the liver will send out cholesterol into the circulation to patch out the injured blood vessel wall. The cholesterol works just like the overlaying of asphalt over damaged roads done by the DPWH. As the blood gets thicker, the pressure increases, greater will be the resistance of flow, and more cholesterol will be deposited over the blood vessel wall to make the blood vessel more resistant to rupture due to higher blood pressure. More cholesterol deposits will obliterate the blood vessel lumen or opening making the blood flow slower and more tedious. In time, the blood vessel will be clogged resulting to heart attack or ischemic stroke.
The best way to keep the heart healthiest is by making water as the beverage of choice and drinking adequate volume of it on a daily basis. The recommended volume is 50 millimeters per kilogram body weight per day. The adult human body is at least 70 percent water. The century-old recommended eight to ten glasses of water daily is very erroneous since the size of individuals vary.
With the prevalence of water pollution everywhere, it is best to drink purified water instead of fresh water from the tap or other water sources. However, the purification process does not only eliminate the impurities in water but also the essential minerals required by the body to carry out the critical biochemical reactions. Thus, it is mandatory to replenish the lost essential minerals by supplementing the purified water with a food-grade sourced mineral supplement. Personally, I recommend IONIQUE® Mineral Drops manufactured by Mineral Resources International (MRI) based in Ogden, Utah. Locally, the product is exclusively distributed by VER1REV Enterprise.
The main ingredient of IONIQUE® Mineral Drops is magnesium chloride. Magnesium is called the “miracle mineral” since its deficiency results to 65 medical conditions including cardiovascular diseases. According to Dr. Carolyn Dean, author of the book “The Magnesium Miracle,” any heart problem is a sign of magnesium deficiency.
Magnesium improves the heart and artery muscles to squeeze and circulate blood. It relaxes and expands arteries, veins, and capillaries to improve circulation and reduces hypertension. It improved cholesterol levels through better lipid metabolism; lowers total cholesterol levels by 6 to 23 percent; increases HDL (good cholesterol) by 4 to 11 percent; lowers LDL (bad cholesterol) by 10 to 18 percent; and lowers triglycerides by 10 to 42 percent. It has an anti-coagulant or anti-platelet effects by reducing blood stickiness and clotting tendencies.
Magnesium limits cholesterol to its necessary functions such as production of hormones and maintenance of cell membranes and will not be produced in excess. It slows down enzymatic reaction of HMG-CoA reductase, a factor in cholesterol production. It is also a natural calcium channel blocker, a natural statin too. It is a natural anti-hypertensive! It is a physiologic necessity and a pharmacological treasure to use before drug intervention. It is the ideal cardiovascular “drug” for it is safe, cheap, simple to use, with a wide therapeutic range with little or no tendency toward drug interaction.
When used during heart attack, magnesium lessens the site of injury; helps dissolve blood clots; prevents spasm in the heart muscles and blood vessel wall, thus, dilates vessels; counteracts action of calcium that increases spasm; prevents arrhythmia; and acts as an anti-oxidant against free radicals forming at the site of injury. If magnesium is administered immediately after the onset of heart attack and before any drugs, heart muscle damage is greatly reduced and neither hypertension nor arrhythmia develops.
In patients who undergo coronary bypass surgery, the common complications of ventricular dysrhythmias and decreased stroke volume are markedly decreased with magnesium supplementation.
Magnesium effectively helps individuals with the following cardiovascular conditions:
1. Arrhythmias and tachycardia due to abnormal shifts of potassium into and out of the heart cells.
2. Abnormal electrical activity in the heart shown by ECG results.
3. Arteriosclerosis.
4. Constriction and spasms in the blood vessels.
5. High blood pressure.
6. Angina pectoris.
7. Damage to heart cells due to ischemic heart disease associated with its low levels and too much calcium in heart cells.
8. Sudden death due to arrhythmia or infarction.
9. Formation of blood clots within blood vessels that can lead to heart attack or stroke.
10. Heart valve disorders.
Any sign of heart trouble, take magnesium!
The regular intake of magnesium contained in IONIQUE® Mineral Drops will help you take very good care of your heart. Do NOT ignore or neglect it for you will make heart diseases maintain its top spot as the most expensive disease in the years to come and worse, you may not be able to enjoy the lovely moments with your loved ones again.
Happy Heart’s Day everyone!
P.S.
Subscribe to our Youtube Channel "IONIQUE MINERALS PHILIPPINES" for more Tubig at mga Mineral Videos.
Pumunta sa https://bit.ly/ioniquemineralschannel
