Arginine, and L-arginine, are precursors of nitric oxide (NO). NO is a colorless gas. Yet it relaxes the smooth muscle of the arteries. This has been discovered and used for decades. Nitrates and nitrites, like nitroglycerin, have been used to decrease angina. Relaxing the smooth muscles of the veins and arteries decreases the load on the heart. That's how it decreases the pain of angina.

In 1998, the Nobel Prize for medicine went to Drs. Furchgott, Murad, and Ignarro for discoveries leading to understanding nitric oxide.

Arginine and citrulline are metabolic precursors of nitric oxide. There is debate within the supplements community re: which is better. That debate is not covered in this video. Instead, we cover a couple of studies dealing with L-arginine as a supplement.

The USPSTF ( or United States Preventive Services Task Force) was developed about 30 years ago. When I was at Hopkins, our residents assisted by providing the original background documents. The complication and detail behind these standards have grown dramatically; there are now over a dozen background documents, each longer than the original back science review.

In addition, there are conditional statements and clauses that further complicate the actual execution of these guidelines.

These guidelines are complicated. And difficult to execute. And they miss key information, like whether or not the patient has cv or cardiovascular inflammation - or even plaque.

At PrevMed, we use a different guideline. We use ones developed by Brad Bale and Amy Doneen. It's simple: if you have plaque, you need baby aspirin. If you don't have plaque, there is no need for baby aspirin.

We also offer Aspirin Works. It's a test for prostaglandin that aspirin decreases. If large amounts are found in the urine while taking baby aspirin, then the advice is to take 2 baby aspirin.

You define having plaque by having more than 1.3 mm carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) or a positive coronary artery calcium score.

We have other videos on AspirinWorks, Baby aspirin for prevention, CIMT, plaque, and inflammation.

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About John Lorscheider - John is a frequent contributor. He’s also a PrevMed patient. Like most of us, John’s family and personal history include significant cardiovascular risk.

John came from a technical background and spent his entire career in providing engineered fluid process systems and equipment to industry, as well as performing root cause failure analyses for his customers.

His own study and research made it clear he wasn’t getting the whole story about prevention from his docs. They just didn’t know. So he’s been in several roles of running prevention medical groups to help further the science.

Inadequate sleep is causally linked to diabetes, depression, advanced aging, and even cancer. Yet sleep apnea and other disturbances are surprisingly common. One of the problems is the cost and logistical difficulties of getting a sleep study. The Itamar WatchPAT is a home sleep monitor device. It measures the length of sleep, apneic episodes, and pulse oximetry. It is inexpensive (less than $200). And it takes less than 5 minutes to set up. In addition, patients can get this test in the comfortable, familiar surroundings of their own bedroom. In this video, I unbox and try a unit.

Drs. Isabella Wentz and Suzy Cohen have written books on Hashimoto's Thyroiditis with a major link to Gluten in the diet. We look at the science behind these assertions. Dr. Allesio Fasano, the founder of the Center for Celiac Research at Massachusetts General (Harvard), has done a lot of research in this area. His major focus has been Leaky Gut and Celiac Disease.

The process described is the impact of cell membrane receptors like PAR3, EGFr. These receptors, in turn, change the cellular tight junctions. These tight junctions have critical functions for the intestinal mucosa, but also many other membranes - such as the thyroid membrane. In fact, this tight junction breakdown has been associated with multiple auto-immune diseases: lupus, schizophrenia, type 1 diabetes, cv inflammation (heart attack, stroke, dementia), rheumatoid arthritis, etc.

Haptoglobin 2,2 has a precursor protein called zonulin. Zonulin is a genetic variation of haptoglobin, located on chromosome 16, the same chromosome linked to the auto-immune and inflammatory diseases mentioned above.

Diabetes with a HgA1C of 6.5 or greater AND hap 2,2 have a huge increase in CV risk. This comes from a combined oxidation effect of Glycation of hemoglobin and the difficulty in clearing it due to challenges with haptoglobin 2,2 configuration. We'll cover that in other videos.

Glutathione has been called "the Mother of all Antioxidants". It's considered critical to longevity and the aging process. If this is true, then supplementation would seem important. However, there are questions re: whether oral supplementation of glutathione is effective.

In this video, we review an excellent randomized clinical trial on oral Glutathione supplementation. This includes reduced oral glutathione.

This was a randomized clinical trial involving 40 adult volunteers. Biomarkers included erythrocyte glutathione, F2-Isoprostanes, and urinary hydroxy deoxyguanosine.

No significant impact was seen.

Mark Hyman MD is the president of the Institute of Functional Medicine. He wrote an article on Glutathione: the Mother of All AntiOxidants in the Huffington Post. I review this article. There is a teaser here on Glutathione supplementation. ( It's not listed as a way to improve body levels of glutathione. ) There are 9 ways listed to do this:

1. exercise and lifestyle;

2. alpha-lipoic acid;

3. sulfur rich foods;

4. bioactive whey protein;

5.N-acetyl Cysteine;

6. methylation nutrients (folate, vit b6, and 12);

7. Selenium;

8. vits c and e;

9. milk thistle (silymarin).

For hundreds of years, we've debated the impact of EMF (electromagnetic field) radiation on human health. The NIESH ( National Institute of Environmental Sciences) of the NIH (National Institutes of Health) published a most recent report on this in 1992. In it, it said, "the science is weak"... Strongest "associations are in childhood leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia"..."strongest in childhood leukemia"... "cannot be recognized at this time as safe"..." insufficient to warrant aggressive regulatory concern. However, because virtually everyone in the US uses electricity and therefore is routinely exposed... passive regulatory action is warranted such as education..."

BEMER is a company that makes mats that provide this radiation, but under the assumption that it coordinates, balances, and helps with EMF radiation. This is only one of the product category markets. You can purchase a competitive product on Amazon for $1850. The BEMER is more like a $7000 - $9000 investment.

Home remediations were done by a patient of mine. They cost about $20,000.

What's my recommendation? I don't plan to purchase a device, or invest significant dollars in home remediation. But I do plan to stop sleeping with WIFI nearby. And I don't plan to stand in front of my microwave while it's cooking. But my major focus is what I consider higher priorities: insulin resistance, cognition support, heart attack, and stroke protection.