Coconut Oil Is Coming On Strong

A few years ago, the thought of having coconut oil as a regular part of your diet would have raised all kinds of objections that you’d be getting too much fat in your diet.

Well, times have changed and so has the information available to help us make a decision about it. Today, we realize there are fats that are actually helpful to us and one of them is coconut oil.
 
It turns out unprocessed virgin coconut oil consists mostly of lauric acid, which confers several health benefits. It turns out lauric acid doesn’t raise cholesterol, clog arteries or create other cardiovascular risks.

As a matter of fact, it actually enhances immune function and in therapeutic doses it may reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Coronary Disease And L-arginine

Since I’m writing about the heart, let’s explore another way to heal it. A study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology found that the long-term use of L-arginine supplements reduced the risk to patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors.

L-arginine is an amino acid that is the precursor to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a gas released by the body to help promote healthy blood vessel flexibility and dilation. The improvement noted in the study was associated with a decrease in systolic blood pressure, peripheral vascular resistance as well as a decrease in aldosterone levels.

The only time not to use L-arginine is if you are experiencing an active herpes infection.

So… you now have two ways to protect your heart in one post!