Endothelial Dysfunction: The Root Cause of Cardiovascular Disease
What most doctors won't tell you
One person dies every 34 seconds in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease.
Heart disease is the leading killer across the world.
I’ve experienced this first hand with my father passing from a myocardial infarction so this subject hits close to home and it’s one I’ve been particularly obsessed with for the past few years.
Let’s get into what I believe to be the root cause of this affliction.
The Endothelium
Most people have never heard of it.
The endothelium (and endothelial cells) make up the innermost layer of your blood vessels. They’re the first site of injury which begins the process of atherosclerosis.
A blood vessel is made of three layers:
The endothelium
Smooth muscle cells
Adventitia
It’s important to understand the mechanistic nature of heart disease and how it develops over a lifetime. That’s why we’ll be diving deep on the endothelium and what function it serves to protect us from heart disease.
Your Endothelium Protects
The endothelial layer is thin, yet very active and responsible for:
making hormones
allowing passage for messenger chemicals
maintaining blood vessel function
creating nitric oxide
preventing blood clots
relaxing the arteries
promoting normal blood pressure
facilitating of glucose uptake
You must protect it at all cost because it, in turn, protects you.
Endothelial dysfunction is the process by which damage occurs to this innermost layer of blood vessels and arteries.
This process takes decades to go from early stage damage to an advanced stage which is why I focus most of my work on the fundamentals as early as possible. They’re preventative measures designed to reduce risk.
What causes such damage?
All the classic risk factors:
1. Smoking
2. Chronically elevated blood sugar
3. Obesity
4. High blood pressure
5. Oxidized LDL
6. Consumption of vegetable oil
7. Chronic sleep deprivation
8. Elevated homocysteine levels
9. Elevated hs-CRP particles
10. High volume of triglycerides in the blood
11. Sedentary behavior
Each of these over time creates severe stenosis (narrowing of the blood vessel).
I’m sure it’s not a comprehensive list, but this one covers most of the causes.
Nitric Oxide: Your Savior
Nitric oxide is your savior in this context.
It maintains blood vessel function and acts upon the smooth muscle cells, creating a relaxation effect on the artery and vessel through vasodilation.
You can read more about it below in a previous Substack article.
When the blood vessel is damaged from the risk factors I mentioned earlier, platelets clump together and go to the sight of injury to repair damage.
If that process remains chaotic and uncontrolled over time, more inflammatory cells and cytokines add insult to injury which increases your chance of experiencing a cardiovascular event.
Guess what reduces platelet aggregation?
Nitric oxide.
Furthermore, all risk factors which cause damage to the endothelium reduce nitric oxide, creating a vicious cycle of pro-atherosclerotic activity.
This reduces vasodilation and increases potent vasoconstrictors.
More specifically..
Endothelin-1
Thromboxane
We must raise nitric oxide by any means.
My Favorite Ways To Stimulate Nitric Oxide Production
Here are my staples:
Don’t use conventional mouthwash (kills bacteria which produce NO)
Train consistently
Use red light therapy often (Use code ZAIDKDAHHAJ for 15% off)
Consume beet juice if you tolerate it well
Get more direct sunlight onto your bare skin
Focus on nasal breathing (Every time you breathe through the nose, your body produces nasal nitric oxide)
Non-Invasive Methods to Assess Endothelial Function
Read through below if you want to go even deeper with professional help than most people and assess how well you’re doing in the nitric oxide department.
Regardless of technical details, you must build your foundation:
Sleep
Hydration
Nutrition
Movement/Training
Supplementation
I’ll help you do this and set you up with everything you need for the rest of your life (and that’s not an exaggeration).
Let’s talk and see if you’re a good fit + assess whether or not I can help you.
Much love,
Zaid
Great info man. Are there ways to heal the endothelium naturally and reverse any damage that’s already occurred from poor lifestyle in the first couple decades of life?
Well done!!