Support Your Heart Health With This Two-in-One Formula
Keeping track of a bunch of pills can be frustrating business, even for the most organized health conscious people—so it goes without saying that supplements that combine the benefits of more than one powerhouse nutrient into a single daily formula serve as the cornerstone of any convenient and effective regimen. Natural heart health strategies are no exception to this rule… and if your goal is to keep it simple, you’ll be happy to hear that a combination of just two essential compounds may offer all the cardiovascular support you need.
Krill oil has emerged as one of the premiere sources of heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Unlike standard fish oil, which is typically derived from coldwater fatty fish like sardines, krill oil comes from small, red crustaceans found in the Antarctic Ocean. The EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids you’ll find in krill are attached to cell membranes via phospholipids—a unique quality which makes them more easily absorbed.1-3 Krill oil is also rich in the antioxidant carotenoid astaxanthin—which helps to inhibit lipid oxidation—as well as flavonoids, vitamin A and alpha linoleic acid.
So it’s no surprise that research points to krill oil’s distinctly powerful role in maintaining cardiovascular health. Animal studies show that krill oil can balance triglycerides, LDL and total cholesterol, while improving HDL levels, fat storage, and inflammatory responses.4-5 Clinical study has revealed similar effects on humans, with results indicating that krill oil significantly increases plasma concentrations of key omega-3 fatty acids—while balancing critical HDL to triglyceride ratios—even more efficiently than fish oil.6-8
But that’s not all: Research also supports krill oil’s contribution to a wide range of other crucial health benefits, from healthy cell development and comfortable joints, to a lighter, brighter mood.9-10
When it comes to CoQ10, the research is just as compelling—especially in support of the reduced form of this important nutrient, known as ubiquinol. When supplementing with the oxidized form of CoQ10 (known as ubiquinone), data suggests that certain subjects have a difficult time achieving adequate levels, even at high dosages—but trials show that ubiquinol is more bioavailable than ubiquinone, and is able to increase blood levels of reduced CoQ10.11 This increase can deliver critical advantages to your heart, as ubiquinol plays an essential role in the generation of cellular energy, while acting as a fat-soluble antioxidant charged with neutralizing highly reactive free radicals.
Small clinical trials have shown that these substantial increases in plasma CoQ10 levels deliver positive effects on both heart health and left ventricular function—while balancing plasma LDL levels, and particularly small dense LDL particles, which are known to play an especially significant role in common cardiovascular concerns.12-13 As an added benefit, ubiquinol can also support your kidney health, while supporting a healthy normal inflammatory response in the midst of cytokine and chemokine activity, which are implicated in unbalanced inflammatory responses.14-15
The bottom line: You won’t find a more dynamic duo for your heart’s health than krill oil and ubiquinol—two of the most efficient and abundant sources of omega-3s and CoQ10 on the market today. And that’s why you’ll find them both combined in one powerhouse formula (oMega Heart™), which pairs pure, high-quality krill oil with a patented form of ubiquinol called CoQ10-H2™, available from Complementary Prescriptions®.
References:
1. Wijendran V, Huang MC, Diau GY, et al. Efficacy of dietary arachidonic acid provided as triglyceride or phospholipids as substrates for brain arachidonic acid accretion in baboon neonates. Pediatr Res. 2002;51:265-272.
2. Goustard-Langelier B, Guesnet P, Durand G, et. al. n-3 and n-6 fatty acid enrichment by dietary fish oil and phospholipids sources in brain cortical areas and nonneural tissues of formula-fed piglets. Lipids. 1999;34:5-16.
3. No authors listed. Krill Oil Monograph. Alternative Medicine Review. 2010;15(1):84-86.
4. Jia-Jin Zhu, Jia-Hui Shi, Wen-Bin Qian, Zhen-Zhen Cai, and Duo Li. Effects of Krill Oil on serum lipids of hyperlipidemic rats and human SW480 cells. Lipids in Health and Disease. 2008, 7:30
5. Barbara Batetta, Mikko Griinari, Gianfranca Carta, Elisabetta Murru, Alessia Ligresti, Lina Cordeddu, Elena Giordano, Francesca Sanna, Tiziana Bisogno, Sabrina Uda, Maria Collu, Inge Bruheim, Vincenzo Di Marzo10 and Sebastiano Banni. Endocannabinoids May Mediate the Ability of (n-3) Fatty Acids to Reduce Ectopic Fat and Inflammatory Mediators in Obese Zucker Rats. J. Nutr. 139:1495-1501, 2009.
6. Stine M. Ulven, Bente Kirkhus, Amandine Lamglait, Samar Basu, Elisabeth Elind, Trond Haider, Kjetil Berge, Hogne Vik, and Jan I. Pedersen. Metabolic Effects of Krill Oil are Essentially Similar to Those of Fish Oil but at Lower Dose of EPA and DHA, in Healthy Volunteers. Lipids. 2011 January;46(1):37-46.
7. da Luz PL, Favarato D, Faria-Neto JR, Jr, Lemos P, Chagas AC. High ratio of triglycerides to HDL-cholesterol predicts extensive coronary disease. Clinics (Sao Paulo) 2008;63:427-432.
8. Bittner V, Johnson BD, Zineh I, Rogers WJ, Vido D, Marroquin OC, Bairey-Merz CN, Sopko G. The triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio predicts all-cause mortality in women with suspected myocardial ischemia: a report from the Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE). Am Heart J. 2009;157:548-555.
9. Sampalis F, Bunea R, Pelland MF, Kowalski O, Duguet N, Dupuis S. Evaluation of the effects of Neptune Krill Oil on the management of premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea. Altern Med Rev. 2003;8:171-9.
10. Deutsch L. Evaluation of the effect of Neptune Krill Oil on chronic inflammation and arthritic symptoms. J Am Coll Nutr. 2007;26:39-48.
11. Hosoe K, Kitano M, Kishida H, Kubo H, Fujii K, Kitahara M. Study on Safety and Bioavailability of Ubiquinol (QH™) After Single and 4-week Multiple Oral Administration to Healthy Volunteers. Regulatory Toxicology Pharmacology. 2007 February; 47(1):19-28.
12. Peter H. Langsjoen and Alena M. Langsjoen. Supplemental ubiquinol in patients with advanced congestive heart failure. BioFactors. 2008;32:119-128.
13. Constance Schmelzer, Petra Niklowitz, Jurgen G. Okun, Dorothea Haas, Thomas Menke and Frank Doring. Ubiquinol-Induced Gene Expression Signatures are Translated into Altered Parameters of Erythropoiesis and Reduced Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in Humans. IUBMB Life. January 2011;63(1):42-48.
14. Akira Ishikawa, Hiroo Kawarazaki, Katsuyuki Ando, Megumi Fujita, Toshiro Fujita, Yukio Homma. Renal preservation effect of ubiquinol, the reduced form of coenzyme Q10. Clin Exp Nephrol. 2011;15:30-33.
15. Constance Schmelzer, Gerti Lorenz, Gerald Rimbach, and Frank Döring. In vitro effects of the reduced Form of Coenzyme Q10 on Secretion Levels of TNF-α and Chemokines in Response to LPS in the Human Monocytic Cell Line THP-1. J Clin Biochem Nutr. January 2009;44:62-66.
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