In this post I am pointing out how l-arginine can contribute to taking care of cognitive function and how the advises given by the medical expertise today might even contribute to dementia and alzheimers.
In the old days, before diagnoses like Alzheimers and dementia came around, at least in Norway, people used to say that "he's starting to get calcified". In recent times, we call this for vascular dementia. I have attached a video explaining vascular dementia. Notice in the video that "the alzheimer's society" has not yet incorporated the extensive knowledge of how l-arginine can contribute to vascular health, claiming that "there is currently no cure for vascular dementia, however, by controlling underlaying cardivascular degenases which affect the blood supply, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart degeneration, it may be possible to slow down progression of the condition."
I'm really out of words when it comes to these terrible advises that comes from a body that acts as an authority in knowledge of dementia and alzheimer. Let me give a little introduction to how wrong this will be.
Why cholesterol drugs might give you dementia.
While your brain accounts for about 2% of the total body weight (possibly closer to 3% in Steemians), it holds about 25% of the total cholesterol in the body. A little fun fact and digression in this context; Cholesterol is actually the most important substance that separates animals and plants, which makes it possible to move and build up a functioning nervous network including the brain. So access to and functioning cholesterol production and distribution is crucial for taking care of the brain and nervous system. Many studies already show that cholesterol medications contribute to dementia. New research also shows that cholesterol drugs might be saving 1 in 300 patients, but is it worth it for the 299 that in reality didn't have any positive effect of the drug taking into account all the side effects statins cause?
And blood pressure medication...
So for blood pressure medications. The heart receives external signals on how high pressure it should pump at. If some blood vessels, for example in the brain, begins to seal, the cells send out signals that they need more nutrition, which causes the heart to pump at a higher pressure. How foolish is it then to lower the blood pressure? One serious side effect of blood pressure lowering drugs long term is organ failure because of less nutrition and oxygen reacging the cells, like the kidneys (and the brain). Now, there are some blood pressure drugs that acctually contribute positively to dementia as a secondary function (presumed vasodialization), but basically, the measure is fully rearranged in a simple and easily understood perspective. It is said that high blood pressure leads to dementia, but the reality is that elevated blood pressure is the body's reaction to dense blood vessels in the brain (or elsewhere in the body) making it primarily a symptom and necessarily the cause. Then it really gets backward to choke your heart's ability to handle the situation. And rather look at how to help your body fix the clogged and stiff blood vessels.
L-arginine
In connection with relatively new knowledge of how l-arginine can contribute in cardiovascular disease (20 years is still "new" when it hasn't been incorporated in main stream knowledge), we know that it is l-arginine which is the body's most important raw material for keeping the blood vessels clean and and flexible as well as cleaning out where plaque has accumulated. Because it really is possible to reverse the build-up of plaque in the blood vessels.
In addition, research now shows that l-arginine is related to the brain's structure. In recent studies they claim that "the body eats the l-arginine that the brain needs". With that, it seems that you can get a two-piece advantage of taking l-arginine as one gets older. It has been shown that cognitive function starts to decrease on average from the age of 25, I think that one should consider using a supplement of l-argninin long before the first dementia symptoms appear. And you also do not want a heart attack before you get the chance to become demented? :)
This study goes into the latest function of l-arginine and brain health non-vascular. "Arginine deprivation".
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/15/5969
This study clearly shows what results can be obtained from using l-arginine. This is amazing results as the partcipants acctually went from being under the dementia value of 20 on the cognitive scale to well above in 3 months with what must be considered a small amount of l-arginine daily.
And just to add for those thinking this might be something to consider years from now; taking care of your brain in a younger age does correolate with better mood (read; less depression, bipolarity and so on) as well as better energy and cognitive abilities.
I will follow up on more advantages on l-arginine supplementation. Part 3 coming up later :)
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