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| Category: Cardiovascular Disease Specialists |
Date published: January 8, 2005 |
Monitoring your CRP level is vitally important because it is one of the best indicators of heart disease. C-Reactive Protein has proven to be one of the best indicators of looming Heart disease.
Find out why high cholesterol alone is NOT responsible for heart disease. And you will find out how to keep your CRP Level in the normal range.
Because your body produces C-Reactive Protein as part of your body's defense - like when you are injured, it signals your immune system for help. Your immune system sends out white blood cells and inflammatory molecules (including C-Reactive Protein) to the injured area.
This defensive system causes inflammation which is damaging to blood vessels and leads to heart disease. Because this is an continuous process, not like an ankle injury which heals and then inflammation goes away.
Elevated C-Reactive Protein levels are an early indication of inflammation in the body. When there is inflammation in the body, there is usually a problem. Realize this is why C-Reactive Protein is a great indicator.
Naturally you can easily understand that C-Reactive Protein is a better indicator of heart disease than cholesterol. A huge study on CRP backs this up. The New England Journal of Medicine published A report where nearly 28,000 people participated in a study of CRP. Researchers in the study used LDL cholesterol and CRP to predict heart attacks and stroke.
What the researchers found was that CRP was a better predictor of cardiac events than LDL cholesterol -1
So - what can you do to keep your C-Reactive Protein level low? In a word, exercise. Activity is the best way to keep CRP levels low. Just taking a walk is a good way to get your activity level up.
There are also important nutrients to help limit the damage from the inflammation.
Here are several nutrients you have heard of:
Vitamin C Vitamin E And Folic Acid - protects the blood vessels.
Two others you may not have heard as much about:
Taurine - is an amino acid-like compound and a component of bile acids, which are used to help absorb fats and fat- soluble vitamins. It is found in meat and fish.
L-arginine - A naturally occurring amino acid found in food proteins that the body uses to make Nitric Oxide.
You can easily get plenty of these nutrients through food and supplements combined.
Talk to your doctor about a simple test for CRP levels, it is like a blood test. It is best to keep your levels under 5 mg per liter, preferably 3 mg per liter.
1 - Ridker P., et al. Comparison of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the prediction of first cardiovascular events. NEJM 2002 Nov 14; 347(20): 1557-1565
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