Hormones and Nitric Oxide
One supplement we have been recommending for many years is nitric oxide. Many years ago, we added NO support to our daily regimen. I want to spend a few minutes explaining one aspect of nitric oxide aka NO.
Please refer to the blog below to get a refresher on nitric oxide in the body.
We can summarize here by saying that NO is one of the most important signaling molecules and loss of NO function is one of the most reliable early indicators of chronic disease states.
To understand NO effects, we need to know a bit about the endothelium. Endothelial cells line the blood and lymphatic vessels. For obvious reasons the inner lining of the blood vessels is continuous from the heart to the smallest of vessels. The health of this layer is integralto blood pressure, blood clotting and inflammation.
Hormones and NO mechanisms are interdependent. Each depends on the other for optimum function. Hormones are important for NO production and NO helps regulate the hormones in HPA axis (hypothalamus, pituitary adrenal).
Some researchers state that aging is the decrease of hormones, and the decrease of nitric oxide is aging.
The key enzyme in NO production is eNOS or endothelial nitric oxide synthase.
Hormones linked to NO activity are:
Estrogen
Testosterone
Progesterone
DHEA
Insulin
Growth Hormone
T3 (Triiodothyronine)
You won't have to know much about physiology to recognize these important hormones. Just know that your overall health and well-being will depend on these hormones being in a healthy level and balance.
As we age, our hormone activity tends to decline, and this contributes to a decrease in NO production. By the time a person is 40, the activity of eNOS and therefore NO production has decreased by 50%. At 60 years, eNOS is functioning at about 15%.
Fortunately, we can offset much of this decline with supplementation. This is why we recommend NO support for many chronic conditions.
We used two different products at the time of this writing. The Berkeley formula comes in capsules. The Pure Encaps formula is a powder.
Berkeley Life Professional Nitric Oxide Foundation
Pure Encapsulations Nitric Oxide Support, links below!
It has been our experience that in young people (those under 55), you can generally jump right in with NO supplementation. If you are in a chronic disease state like hypertension, ischemic heart disease etc, you should probably start slowly and build up over several weeks. This will be easier to do with the powder form. Instead of one or two scoops per day, you might start with a quarter scoop every other day, then ¼ scoop a day and work up slowly from there. Some people need several scoops a day for several weeks to get the effect they need.
For those still reading, the following talks in greater detail about the hormone and NO interactions.
Sex Hormones
Nitric Oxide helps regulate the release of hormones in the HPA axis. NO helps control the release of LHRH (luteinizing hormone releasing hormone) that helps control luteinizing hormone (LH) release. LH stimulates production of testosterone and estradiol.
Estrogen stimulates eNOS to produce nitric oxide
This is one reason why as a woman arrives at the menopause years, and with the decrease in estrogen production, 85% of women are hypertensive by the age of 85.
Good levels of estrogen also help with decreasing oxidative stress. This puts less pressure on the NO system that is also involved in modulating oxidative stresses.
Progesterone acts directly on the endothelial cells to stimulate production of eNOS thereby increasing production of NO.
Testosterone interacts with NO pathways in a couple of different ways. It helps to maintain endothelial health in general. This is part of the mechanism that can lead to vascular problems and also erectile dysfunction.
By way of general health principles, this is why we take our NO support and often recommend it to our clients
