Exercise Protects the Heart Via Nitric Oxide

Exercise both reduces the risk of a heart attack and protects the heart from injury if a heart attack does occur. For years, doctors have been trying to dissect how this second benefit of exercise works, with the aim of finding ways to protect the heart after a heart attack.

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified the ability of the heart to produce and store nitric oxide as an important way in which exercise protects the heart from injury.

Nitric oxide, a short-lived gas generated within the body, turns on chemical pathways that relax blood vessels to increase blood flow and activate survival pathways. Both the chemical nitrite and nitrosothiols, where nitric oxide is attached to proteins via sulfur, appear to act as convertible reservoirs for nitric oxide in situations where the body needs it, such as a lack of blood flow or oxygen.

The Emory team's results, published online in the journal Circulation Research, strengthen the case for nitrite and nitrosothiols as possible protectants from the damage of a heart attack.

Read more: http://shared.web.emory.edu/whsc/ne...cise-protects-the-heart-via-nitric-oxide.html

 

I love exercise, love the gym and weight training, can't imagine my life without it, and after reading this, will never give it up....exercise with the right eating habits....can't go wrong...! :smt038