The Role of Nutraceuticals in Maintaining Heart Health

A popular saying by Hippocrates states, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” This was centuries ago and it’s no surprise that it stays true today. Aren’t we following the same concept through dietary supplements? Nutrition through daily food is indispensable but when it comes to tackling ailments due to nutritional deficiency, pharmaceuticals come to our rescue. Blurring the line between nutrition and pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals have become a popular class of natural products. They are emerging as an extensive range of trustworthy products, which helps us address an ever-growing range of ailments.

What Prompts the Increasing Use of Nutraceuticals?

Current health trends and individual preferences are the key forces that are currently driving nutraceutical market ahead on a global level. Established nutraceuticals are known to help in fighting several health problems such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis. They are also proven to be effective against cardiovascular diseases (CVD) such as coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure or cardiac arrest, and congenital cardiovascular defects along with the associated disorders, including obesity, cholesterol, hyper or hypotension, triglycerides, thrombosis, and inflammation.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), around 83.6 million Americans, or one in three adults, suffer from some or the other form of heart disease. Obesity is a global issue today and cholesterol has been a heart health deteriorating factor for quite a long time. Moreover, increasing stress levels are causing various problems related to blood pressure. All these being the predominant factors contributing to heart diseases, it’s no wonder that heart diseases top the list of causes of death worldwide. High technology heart disease treatments are generally expensive and unaffordable for a majority of population. This is where nutraceuticals come in the picture. They are particularly appealing to effectively help against heart diseases, at a considerably affordable cost.

To help keep their hearts ticking smooth throughout the life, people have started to embrace dietary and vitamin supplements, functional foods and beverages, and more such nutraceuticals as a part of healthy lifestyle.

Can Nutraceuticals Really Help in Maintaining Great Heart Health?

Although unlike medicines, nutraceuticals can’t cure heart disease, they can be definitely used to maintain good heart health. Nutraceuticals, along with a healthy lifestyle, can go a long way in maintaining good cardiovascular health. They can play an important role in regulating blood pressure, platelet aggregation, plaque formation, and lipid circulation.

According to recent research findings in the Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, nutraceuticals can potentially pose greater impact on heart health than on any other health condition. Vitamins B and E3, CoQ10 (ubiquinone), antioxidants, garlic, soy products, omega-3-fatty acids, dietary fibres, flavonoids, plant sterols, probiotics, and prebiotics reportedly have significantly beneficial effects on heart. It’s thus not an exaggeration if specialists start using nutraceuticals for effective management of CVD in the future. Nutraceuticals offer a host of assorted benefits, just like patients suffering from osteoporosis are advised calcium and vitamin D supplements, and those suffering from anemic conditions are recommended iron supplements, patients with CVD can be prescribed omega-3s, vitamins, or antioxidant supplements.

·        A recent consumer survey by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), Washington, D.C. in 2014, indicated that almost 22% of existing users take the supplements that are particularly targeted to heart health.

As today’s consumers seem to be proactive and sincere in adopting heart health-specific nutraceuticals, it’s obvious that nutraceuticals are highly effective and incredibly convenient in improving and maintaining heart health. They’re proven to act as an important minimising factor when it comes to preventing the risk of developing serious heart health issues and reducing the rate of mortality due to CVD.