The Best Supplements for Heart Health

The best supplements for heart health should address as many of the major controllable risk factors for developing heart disease as possible. There are numerous health heart supplements, but only a few may actually be beneficial. The major risk factors for heart disease that are controllable include obesity, stress, unhealthy cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and physical inactivity. Although physical inactivity is not something that the health heart supplements can address, it can be advantageous to take supplements that are designed to increase energy. Many people find that after a day of work and commuting, they are just too tired to be physically active. Often this is related to poor quality diet during the busy workday. It takes some self-motivation, but the right health supplements can help. Some herbs, minerals and vitamins that increase energy levels and stabilize them throughout the day include Green Tea, folic acid, magnesium, vitamin C and the B vitamins. These nutrients serve many unique functions in the body, but all are necessary for energy levels adequate to improve physical activity levels. The best supplements for heart health should contain adequate quantities of each of these. There are many other vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients that are important for overall health. If your daily diet does not include everything your body needs to function efficiently, then you will have low energy levels. While focusing on a healthy diet is of utmost importance for health, heart supplements can provide some extra insurance. In addition, a complete daily vitamin and mineral supplement designed for your sex and your age group should insure that you get all of the essential nutrients that you need on a daily basis. Stress is one issue that the best supplements for heart health will address. Stress in our lives is unavoidable. Chronic or long term stress caused by frustrating jobs, money problems and/or troubled personal relationships may be unavoidable. Often it is impossible to change these situations, but it is possible to change the way you respond to them. Chronic stress can also lead to depression, which often accompanies heart disease. Gingko Biloba and Sam-E have been shown to relieve the symptoms of depression and have been used as complementary therapies for patients with heart disease. Gingko Biloba, when combined with ginger, has been shown to reduce anxiety, caused by chronic stress. The best supplements for heart health contain Gingko Biloba and Sam-E. In addition to physical activity, meditation and other stress reduction techniques, people under consistent stress need extra vitamin C. Vitamin C is needed by every cell of the human body. It cannot be produced by the human body, so it must be obtained from food or supplements and quantities in the blood stream are quickly depleted. This is one reason that many of the better health heart supplements contain vitamin C and the reason that dosage recommendations are typically for three times a day, rather than just once per day. If a person takes a mega-dose of vitamin C once a day, the body will use what it needs at the time and excrete the rest. The better choice is to split the dosage into three reasonable quantities. In this way, the body will have adequate vitamin C levels throughout the day, keeping energy levels consistent. Controlling Cholesterol and Blood Pressure Naturally You may have seen news articles and information from alternative health care providers maintaining that unhealthy cholesterol levels can be controlled naturally. Prescription medications (statin drugs) designed to inhibit the production of cholesterol within the body can also inhibit the production of Coenzyme Q-10. This enzyme can be created by the human body when overall nutritional levels are good, but when production is inhibited, muscle death (including the heart muscle) can occur. When statin drugs were originally patented, the designers recommended adding CO Q-10 to the mixture, but the manufacturers never followed through with this recommendation. They simply added the warning that muscle pain, particularly in the legs, should be reported to your doctor. It is the opinion of many health care professionals, including this writer, that once deep muscle pain is felt, there could already be a problem. It is not necessary to include CO Q-10 in health heart supplements, as long as statin drugs are not being taken and nutrition is good. The best heart health supplements contain ingredients that will lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol naturally. These include rutin, policosanol, inositol and, once again, vitamin C. Blood pressure can also be controlled naturally, with proper diet, exercise and stress reduction techniques. Grape seed extract has been used to maintain normal blood pressure levels and the best health heart supplements contain this ingredient as well. Not all supplements are the same.