Heart health: The 101 Benefits of Inositol

                                                                                         

Inositol is a fundamental part of every cell. It combines with many other nutrients to perform a great variety of functions. Inositol can aid in reducing blood levels of cholesterol, reverse nerve damage from diabetes, help breakdown and redistribute body fat, maintain proper levels of the brain’s neurotransmitters, relieve depression, reduce obsessive/compulsive disorder (OCD), lower blood pressure and even help prevent hair loss. How can one nutrient do so much? Because it’s an essential part of how cells communicate with one another.
Inositol is required for many different operations within your body, including proper liver functioning, as well as creating the insulating myelin sheath around your nerves and for metabolizing fats to protect your heart and kidneys.
One form of inositol (IP6) has been shown to inhibit the stickiness of platelets in the blood, a key part of preventing clots and reducing your risk for heart disease. As far back as 1948, inositol was recognized for its potential to prevent and reverse ‘endothelial dysfunction’ (damage to the lining of blood vessels), associated with the build-up of arterial plaques in atherosclerosis. It has also been known for decades that inositol can help prevent the accumulation of fat and cholesterol in the body and can lower blood pressure.
When inositol combines with choline, it works as a ‘lipotrophic’ a compound that emulsifies fats and keeps them in a liquid suspension form to be returned to the liver. If cholesterol remains emulsified, your chance of it forming plaques or gallstones is greatly reduced.
The formation of the two most important neurotransmitters in our brains serotonin and acetylcholine depends on inositol. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of people with depression and/or panic attacks, inositol demonstrated ‘therapeutic results’ similar to antidepressant drugs, but without side effects. Supplementing with inositol has revealed a calming effect in cases of insomnia and has been shown to be an effective treatment in many cases of OCD.
Inositol has been found to be a component of human hair and when combined with vitamin B12 and folate, it can reduce hair loss and delay the onset of baldness.
Inositol is produced in your body, but additional amounts have been found to give many positive benefits, and your body’s need for inositol is increased if you drink greater than two cups of coffee a day, or have been on antibiotics.
Because inositol is a part of so many natural processes in your body, it is involved in concert with many other nutrients in a multitude of physiologic functions. Therefore, it’s considered wise to add vitamin E, vitamin C, linoleic acid and a vitamin B complex to increase the performance of inositol. Start with 500mg of inositol daily and slowly work up to 1000mg. It’s also good to take an equal amount of choline with your inositol for their synergistic effect in aiding the mobilization of fats and cholesterol, in order to improve your heart health

About the author:
Dr. Christopher Lyden contributes articles on heart health for Feelgoodforlife.com. More information on heart health and other topics can be found at http://www.feelgoodforlife.com.

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