Orthoplex CardioPro #1453270955

Excipients
Calcium hydrogen phosphate, cellulose microcrystalline, povidione, crospovidone, silica colloidal anhydrous, magnesium stearate, opadry clear, carnauba wax

Pack size
90 tablets

Dosage
1 tablet twice daily, or as prescribed

Indications
May be beneficial for:
* Helping to normalise healthy blood pressure
* Assisting in the maintenance and support of cardiovascular health
* Helping to preserve healthy homocysteine levels

Interactions
CardioPro should not be taken within two hours of antibiotic medications, as magnesium may reduce antibiotic absorption. Excessive magnesium levels may deplete calcium levels (as the minerals compete for absorption) and may cause depression of the Central Nervous System. Drowsiness may indicate excessive magnesium consumption.

In regards to its cardiovascular activity, magnesium modulates mechanical, electrical and structural functions of cardiac and vascular cells, and even small changes in extracellular and/or intracellular magnesium concentrations may result in significant effects on cardiac excitability and on vascular tone, contractility and reactivity. Thus magnesium may be important in the physiological regulation of blood pressure whereas alterations in poor cellular magnesium metabolism could contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension. [3, 4] Magnesium deficiency has been shown to produce spasm of the coronary artery which is thought to be a cause of non-occlusive heart attacks. Moreover, it has been observed that men who died suddenly from heart attacks had significantly lower levels of magnesium (as well as potassium) than matched controls.[5] Other studies investigating magnesium's role in the cardiovascular system have also indicated its activity in assisting to maintain healthy blood pressure levels.

Animal studies have demonstrated the influence that magnesium orotate may have upon the lipid level and/or the LDL/HDL - quotient in a favourable way and that this form of supplementation may also decrease the interaction between monocytes/macrophages and the endothelium of the blood vessels. Consequently decreases in plaque formation are observed in a clinical manner.[9, 10] One study which researched the effects of high dose magnesium orotate (3000mg/day) on exercise tolerance in patients with coronary heart disease found that the mineral provided favourable effects on left ventricular function and exercise tolerance and duration in the treated group.[11]

Magnesium orotate is a key intermediate in the biosynthetic pathway of glycogen and has been shown to improve the energy status of the cell and improve recovery from cardioplegic arrest. By improving cellular energy production, metabolic therapy has the potential to benefit cardiac function during the stress of cardiac surgery, myocardial infarction and cardiac failure.

Taurine demonstrates activity in attenuating elevated blood pressure by antagonizing the effects of angiotensin.[17] When urinary and serum taurine levels are decreased, the end result may present as essential hypertension as renin is activated which increases angiotensin and consequently raises blood pressure.

Vitamin E
There has been a large amount of research which has illustrated an inverse relationship between acute coronary events and antioxidant intake. Dietary supplementation with vitamin E in particular, has been shown to reduce the number of ischemic cardiac events in patients with documented coronary artery disease (CAD).[18] Antioxidants in general, inhibit monocyte adhesion, protect against the cytotoxic effects of oxidized low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) and reduce platelet activation. Vitamin E also protects against endothelial dysfunction associated with atherosclerosis by preserving endothelium nitric oxide activity.[19] It is now generally accepted that platelet aggregation is abnormally increased in CAD patients. Experimental studies have shown that free radicals promote platelet aggregation and thrombosis and chain breaking antioxidants such as vitamin E, inhibit or delay arterial thrombogenesis.[20]

Vitamin E is a collective expression for two groups of closely related lipid-soluble compounds (tocopherols and tocotrienols) which have four analogues each.[21] Most recent dietary reference intakes for vitamin E use alpha-tocopherol which is the most biologically active of all the tocopherols, however evidence suggests that excessive alpha-tocopherol displaces the “gamma' fraction of vitamin E in the body. [21, 22] Gamma-tocopherol, a major dietary form of vitamin E has shown to provide different and more potent protective properties to alpha-tocopherol in regards to thrombogenesis, superoxide anion generation, lipid peroxidation and increased superoxide dismutase activity.[20, 22] Numerous reports have stated that a combination of the various tocopherol forms rather than the alpha-tocopherol alone may be an important factor to consider when supplementing vitamin E for its protective effect in the body specifically when targeting platelet reactivity and inhibiting LDL oxidation.

Folic Acid, Cyanocobalamin and Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate
Hyperhomocysteinemia has been well established to be considered an independent risk factor for the development of atherothrombotic and cardiovascular diseases[24, 25] with an even greater enhanced risk of development in the presence of hypertension and smoking.[26, 27] Medical science, until recently thought that only high levels of homocysteine were related to coronary artery disease. More recent data suggests that levels as high as 12μmol/L may increase the risk of vascular disease.[27] Folic acid, in combination with vitamins B12 and B6 have emerged as potentially invaluable nutrients in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis and that a deficiency of these nutrients is closely associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and atherothrombotic diseases.