Thats funny Dr. At the Torrance CA location for the scan, they are doing a two for one in Feb so hubby and I will go for it. I am scared however.

Awesome, just awesome.Brilliant blog that has helped me ALOT so I am eternally grateful. Phil

I just had a heart scan. 44 year old female with family history of heart disease.  Both parents in 40's with heart attacks/by-pass surgery...My cardiologist ask if I had ever been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and the scan looked somewhat like the one you show.  It looked like I had one Big Heart!  He told me to follow-up with my PCP.  I did, he is new for me and not sure I see eye-to-eye with him, but he insist a hernia can not show up on a heart scan, I told him, I saw it, I saw the scan, I saw the white circle...I have had GERD for 5-6 years now, nausea almost every morning on top of the reflux in the morning and my family always complain how long it takes me to eat! Guess what, I'm having an upper GI in the morning.  Thanks for this information...I thought maybe I was loosing my mind!

Are there any particular formulations of l-arginine that you are familiar enough with to recommend?

There is such a bewildering array of supplements available; it is sometimes overwhelming to try to make an informed choice.

Thank you

The brand we've used most frequently for its relatively low cost and palatability is the PowerMaker II, available from Life Extension (LEF.com) and Vitacost.com. I write articles for Life Extension but have no  interest beyond that with that organization. I have no relationship with Vitacost.

Please also see my post from yesterday. We've been discussing such a list of recommendations. We resist the idea of selling supplements because of the corrupting effect of doing so, and the erosion of credibility. However, I believe that in future we can recommend/endorse/approve certain supplements without putting our integrity in doubt.

Dr D-
So interesting to read your posts and excellent information! I will be a regular over here, and appreciate on a personal level everything you are commenting on, as I have been one of those *missed by the system* and am still out of range for the great docs that I am working with.

Just got onto the arginine/endothelial recommendations from a different resource, and appreciate your heads up here on the practical matters of how to turn things around.

We are on similar missions: over at www.CorePsychBlog.com I discuss a growing awareness of the real advances in neuroscience that often go overlooked in everyday psych care.

Interestingly, folks think the heart and the brain are two different topics, and so often we see what you are talking about with the heart over here directly effecting brain recovery and brain health - with all of the positive emotional and cognitive benefits arriving right along with good heart scan tracking.

Thanks again, look forward to talking one day,
Chuck

Dear Dr Davis - was  most interested to read your input on L-Arginine - AAKG (Arginine Alpha-KetoGlutarate).  We have been running a trial on using AAKG on horses with the inflammatory systemic condition, ESPA (Equine Systemic Proteoglycans Accummulation) which is showing considerable success in treating the inflammation that this condition brings with it.  At the same time we also use the Jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) herb.  We are finding that the 'Jia' herb bolsters the effects of the AAKG by supressing the iNOS and supporting the eNOS.

We have an enormous amount of information on this use on our yahoo groups list.  I should be most happy to direct your footsteps hence.

I myself take AAKG + 'J' for control of hypertension and for the inflammation due to AS/OA/DDD.  It works very well indeed.

I enjoy your blog spot, it is most interesting.  Thank you.

Mystral

I really have no adverse reaction to any supplement, except for two: magnesium and arginine. Magnesium is known to cause stomach distress, so I take a slow-release kind. As for arginine, I have tried to it several times, in different powder and slow-release formulations, and it eventually causes the following:
-Stomach distress from powdered arginine
-An unusual overstimulation from any kind of arginine, which manifests after a couple of days as pounding heartbeat (but not weakness),  slight anxiety, and difficulty sleeping. I know from extensive tests and from my vigorous daily workouts that there is no big problem with my heart that would cause this. It goes away when I stop the arginine. I can't believe that I'm the only person who experiences this effect.

That is interesting.

I suspect that there's an interesting lesson to be learned from your experience, but I'm unsure of what it is.

I too experience the pounding heart from taking arginine- it finally dawned on me tonight that it must be the culprit.  I always notice it most when trying to get to sleep.  Frustrating!

Hello!
I just found your blog and it is very interesting! I am an Arginine-lover and truly believe that it can make a big difference in peoples lifes. I have taken Arginine (5 grams a day liquid formula)along with L-Citruline (250mg), omega fatty acids, EDTA, OPCs, vitamins, and other natural supplements since August of 2008 and Love it! I sleep better, have more energy, and can work out much better. I did however notice the heartbeating at bedtime my first few days or week when I started taking the product, like some of you also point out, but that went away by itself and I have not felt anything since then. I actually feel pretty darn good! My allegies have improved like crazy.

Thank you for a good blog! / Helena
www.mi4freedom.blogspot.com

The “Arginine Paradox” is the name that some researchers in this field have given to the unusual property of l-arginine supplementation to “overpower” the blocking effects of ASDM. This is somewhat unusual in biologic systems in that an agent that blocks a receptor cannot usually be outmuscled by providing excess material for a reaction. Kind of like hoping that your car runs faster simply by topping up the gas tank.

Arginine is pretty important. Check http://www.arginineaminoacid.com

I assure you guys are doing great. Thank you for managing this blog. You can make even money playing casino online

Curious about your thoughts on NEO40. This Nitric Oxide supplement is touted as being Argenine free. I was given a sample this morning after a saliva test showed me slightly low for NO. I am not real sure about this supplement and have a relatively good BP, burn about 3500 calories a week through intense exercise, and eat a paleo style diet. Several years ago my cholesterol was 'high' but is now within clinical guidelines.

So, will I benefit from this product or one like it?

Love the blog and the information.

bill

Been on l arginine 2 weeks ,,,my blood pressure is great now ,,,,so glad I found out about this natural supplement ,,blood pressure meds had so many horrible side effects...

"hunger-gatherers"?

The original article said hunter-gatherers.

However, I like hunger-gatherers better.

Hunger is certainly quite a motivator to go seek food.

I don't know why they blamed the meat either as Ancient Egyptians  wouldn't have been eating indoor raised grain fed high omega 6 low omega 3 meats.  

It seems Beer, together with bread, oil and vegetables, was an important part of the wages workers received from their employers. The standard daily ration during pharaonic times was two jars containing somewhat more than two litres each.

When you have eaten three loaves of bread and swallowed two jugs of beer, and the body has not yet had enough, fight against it. But if another is satiated, do not stand, take care not to approach the table.

As a person who can't figure it out, the mummy scans are interesting.

It's not clear to me if saturated fat or grains and sugar are largely to blame for heart disease, or something else.

It made an impression on me that Jimmy Moore (low carb blogger who eats mostly meat) and Dean Ornish (who eats mostly grains and vegetables) both scored zero on their heartscans.  They both avoid flour and sugar, that might be a point of agreement and a possible explanation.  I wish I was privy to the nutritional studies that come out a hundred years from now: long-term studies of different diets.

On what ground are they basing their assumption that meat is the culprit?

It is just blatant and annoying!

Dr. Davis, I love the way your mind works.  Which only proves once again, that the advent of agriculture produced diseases of the metabolic syndrome, even in ancient Egypt.  Wheat, Beer, and date consumption indeed.  If the ancient Egyptians avoided all starch, grains, legumes, and sweet fruit in excess, particularly high fructose types, it is quite apparent that they would have been healthier and lived longer, even in those ancient times.  We should all take heed, and throw out the so called and wrong "healthy diet", the diet that advcates eating low fat and high carbohydrates. This is the dogma that for the last 60 years pervades all medical decisions.  For the sake of our good health we must,MUST all switch to the very healthy low carbohydrate and high saturated fat diet that our ancient genes crave.  If this is not true, how did we all get here?

Yep, the always ASSUME it's the meat or fat.  It just couldn't be all those "healthy whole grains."  

It seems to me that the Egyptian diet was a nutritionist's dream.

Thanks for blogging on this fascinating topic, doc.

Unfortunately, the media reports seem to emphasize meat consumption as if that was the conclusion of the researchers.

I'm betting they don't actually go that far in the JAMA article.

Ooops!

Yes, hunter-gatherers, not hunger-gatherers.

I have been reading about the wealthy ancient Egyptian diet. It is interesting that they used many types of vegetable oils. Many were high in omega 6. They often fried foods. The rich ate meat, bread and some dairy products. They used Honey(fructose) as a sweetner. So I ask the qestion. Was their diet much different than the modern diet?

I understand the McTut burger, although quite unhealthy, was all the rage.
This could explain it.

I love how the LA Times summed things up in their article about this study.

"Both groups, however, share some risk factors. The high-status Egyptians ate a diet high in meat from cattle, ducks and geese, all fatty.

And because mechanical refrigeration was not available, salt -- another contributing factor in heart disease -- was widely used for food preservation."

Sigh...

It occurs to me that the atherosclerosis could have been at least partially due to a vitamin D deficiency resulting from eating grain, which depletes the body of vitamin D.  

Dr. Davis, are you familiar with the theory that Europeans lost their skin pigment in part as an adaptation to eating grain?

If this was the dawn of grain-eating, it could also have been the dawn of selecting for lighter (not to say white, necessarily) skin pigments in grain-eating peoples.  (I think the same vitamin D depletion may hold true for eating dairy, so if they ate this, too, even more so.)  

I wonder if this was also the dawn of largely indoor living for some members of the population - like the wealthy and their servants - and if this could have contributed to a vitamin D deficiency.

but here we are again; Peter points out that there was no difference in calcium score between the veggie and meat diets, yet those of the paleo-diet religion will summarily dismiss this and continue to believe a meat diet is the healthy true diet for humans.  What was the life expectancy of Paleolithic man.... under 20 years maybe?  It wasn't until the diversification of diet that life span increased.... but maybe that is irrelevant if your point is to justify one's own choices

Hi, Helen--

No, I wasn't aware of that particular theory. I am aware of the notion that northern Europeans lost dark pigmentation as they settled in sun-poor regions. I was not aware that grain had added to it.

@Anonymous who claims that food diversity was the chief cause of the increase in life expectancy. First, ancient hunter-gatherers had a life expectancy of around 35 years. This dropped to under 20 years AFTER the advent of agriculture. Ask ANY anthropologist who can tell at a glance whether the bones they've found are pre or post agriculture (pre are strong, straight and healthy with no dental decay. Post are small, brittle, and diseased with plenty of dental decay.)

As to food diversity. It is estimated that hunter-gatherers had hundreds of different food choices ranging from animals great to small, insects, and hundreds of indigenous plants/nuts/seeds/fruits. Early agriculturists primarily ate the grains that could be cultivated locally, and their food choices dropped perilously.

As for mummies, only Egyptian royalty were mummified and ancient Egyptian royalty were known for their high-carb food depravity, where meals included plenty of honey, grains, starches, and beer. The feasts were frequent and included ritual bulimia so that the eating could continue indefinitely. That these people had heart disease should be no surprise to anyone.

As a final note, life expectancy is much less about living long, and more about infant mortality. Infant mortality did not go down significantly until the advent of modern medicine and birthing techniques in the 19th and 20th centuries (at least for western societies.)

@Allen - There's no evidence that ancient Egyptian royalty engaged in ritual vomiting during feasts. Perhaps it may have happened right at the end of the last dynasties when Rome's influence was strong, as purging during a Roman feast was not uncommon. BTW, feasting Romans would just vomit right at the table and a slave would clean it up. A vomitorium is not for vomiting, it's a kind of passageway.

Talking about an 'Ancient Egyptian diet' is a little silly anyway. Which kingdom/era? We're talking over thousands of years here with influences from many cultures and changing weather and environmental conditions. Modern analysis of residue in beer jars over various times shows that the ancient Egyptian beer was actually almost opaque and had a relatively high protein content, interestingly.