From Hypertension to Normal Blood Pressure: How to Improve Heart Health with Nitric Oxide
High Blood Pressure? You may be missing the production of this magic molecule.
Although most people don’t know what is causing their high blood pressure, there is one factor that is definitely overlooked. What is that factor? It’s making sure there is a sufficient amount of nitric oxide being produced in the body. ring my high blood pressure.
An increase in nitric oxide production is one of the key elements in my daily routine that helped me lower my blood pressure naturally, along with eating a plant heavy diet filled with phytonutrients, minerals, and vitamins that my body was lacking. .
If you read my post two weeks ago, you will recall how I talked about the science behind why blood pressure develops in the first place. I will share that here again because in order to make sustainable changes you need to really understand what is happening when someone develops high blood pressure. Hearing this over and over is what I believe led me to get in the mindset to make the changes needed in my journey to lowering my blood pressure naturally.
In this post, I will give a summary of the science behind the development of high blood pressure and nitric oxide’s role in this process, and after that I will take a deeper dive into the different pathways of how to increase nitric oxide production in the body.
The Science Behind High Blood Pressure
When it comes to high blood pressure, there is one thing that all scientists agree on, and that is how the endothelial system works. The science shows that high blood pressure and heart disease all begin in nutrition. The initial onset is when we begin to repeatedly damage the endothelium that is made up of endothelial cells that produce a magic-like gas called nitric oxide. Please note this is one of the main ways we get nitric oxide. The pathways explained below
Nitric oxide is crucial to keeping our blood pressure down. The functions of nitric oxide include:
keeping our blood flowing smoothly like teflon, keeping things from getting sticky in our veins and arteries. It is the strongest blood dilator in the body, preventing artery walls from ever getting stiff, thickened, or inflamed
As you can see, nitric oxide production plays a vital role in keeping inflammation of the arteries and blood vessels at bay.
The Two Main Pathways of Nitric Oxide Production
In order to increase nitric oxide production in the body, we must first understand the two pathways of how nitric oxide is produced.
Nitric oxide was first discovered in the 1700’s. It was looked at just as a little molecule of gas that was a pollutant or a free-radical. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that scientists realized that it was actually good for our health. There were a few scientists at the time that did a lot of research on nitric oxide and its relationship to better cardiovascular health. Three of these scientists went on to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Science for these discoveries.
Nitric oxide was discovered as a vasodilator meaning it makes our arteries and veins dilate up, accommodate more blood flow, and get more oxygen to all the organs and tissues in our body.
Another discovery was that nitric oxide has a half-life of half a second, it’s there and then it’s gone. It’s pretty amazing that it was actually even discovered because of its short life. Half life means how long it is actually active.
One way we get nitric oxide is through an enzymatic reaction in our body. It’s via an enzyme called L-arginine, this enzyme gets metabolized into nitric oxide. This is the actual reaction (or signaling) that causes blood vessels to dilate up due to the nitric oxide being produced.
The second pathway involves getting nitrates through food. We can get nitrates from foods like leafy green vegetables like:
- spinach
- kale
- collard greens
- bok choy
- arugula
- lettuce
- fennel
- beets (not a leafy green, but a powerhouse of nitrates)
Other vegetables that are not as high in nitrates include:
bananas
broccoli
cauliflower
cucumber
pumpkin
berries.
**Continue reading below to learn about the relationship between nitrates from food, oral health, and heart health.
How Nitrates Produce Nitric Oxide
The nitrates in organic foods are the starting molecule of the second pathway to nitric oxide production.
The nitrates in organic foods are the starting molecule of the second pathway to nitric oxide production.
How Nitric Oxide is Produced in the Mouth
Imagine, 50% of our nitric oxide production is occurs in the mouth. This is from the nitrates we get from the foods that we eat. The nitrates are broken down into nitrites by “good” bacteria in the saliva through an enzymatic process. Nitrates then flow down to the gut in the saliva and go through another enzymatic process that turns them into nitric oxide.
When we eat nitrates from food, something very interesting happens. It involves the microbiome (or the communities of good and bad bacteria) that live in and support our body. You probably know that our gut contains trillions of bacteria that is referred to as your gut health. If you have more of the "good bacteria" that helps support your body, then you have "good gut health". If you have more bad bacteria (that mostly feed off of sugar) then you have "bad gut health". What I'm trying to get at is, we also have the same bacteria environments in our mouths!
Nitric oxide can not be produced unless we have certain bacteria that live inside the folds and crisps of our tongues. Imagine the tongue like a shaggy carpet, and all the ups and downs in the folds of our tongues are like valleys and canyons. In between all these areas is where these bacteria live. The amazing part is that these bacteria that live there create the nitric oxide that we get from nitrates from the food we eat.
When we eat nitrate from whole unprocessed foods, the nitrate is converted into nitrite. The nitrite is then swallowed down with saliva and is then converted in the body into nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide can not be produced unless we have certain bacteria that live inside the folds and crisps of our tongues. Imagine the tongue like a shaggy carpet, and all the ups and downs in the folds of our tongues are like valleys and canyons. In between all these areas is where these bacteria live. The amazing part is that these bacteria that live there create the nitric oxide that we get from nitrates from the food we eat.
When we eat nitrate from whole unprocessed foods, the nitrate is converted into nitrite. The nitrite is then swallowed down with saliva and is then converted in the body into nitric oxide.
Research has shown that the reduction in oral pathway to nitric oxide production is linked to systolic and diastolic blood pressure elevation correlated with decreases in circulating nitrite concentrations. The loss of nitric oxide production is associated with major cardiovascular risk factors. (2.) (3.)
Make sure to stay away from foods that have added, unnatural, nitrates like deli meat including salami, turkey, ham, bacon. According to the WebMD website, these include inorganic nitrates “that are not broken down by stomach acid. " (1.)
Nitric oxide decreases inflammation and increases blood flow, helping lower blood pressure. Over 180,000 studies show the loss of nitric oxide production is linked to chronic disease. The progression of nitrate to nitrite to nitric oxide is a synergetic relationship between the oral microbiome and the body that directly links oral and systemic health. This is why I am always keen to learn more about nitric oxide production and share it with as many people as possible.
Now it’s your turn, was this blog helpful? Did it shed some insight? Please let me know. You can email me at sereneat@gmail.com and I would love to continue the conversation.
References