Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and currently accounts for about one in four (25%) deaths each year. Heart disease refers to several heart conditions, with the most common being coronary artery disease (CAD), which affects blood flow to the heart. Some of the risk factors of heart disease are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, bad diet, lack of physical activity, and alcohol abuse.
Unfortunately, as we age, we become more susceptible to these risk factors and need to focus on living a healthier lifestyle. If you want to curb your risk of heart disease, then you need to eat a heart-healthy diet full of leafy greens and whole foods, get regular cardiovascular exercise, avoid smoking, and consume alcohol in moderation. While changing your lifestyle may be easier said than done, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may boost your energy and improve heart health.
What Is DHEA?
DHEA is the most abundant naturally occurring hormone precursor and is a base building block for hormones. As we age, we produce more and more DHEA until around age 25, when we begin to produce about 2% less each year. By age 35, men and women alike produce 20% less DHEA than when they were in their physical prime (age 20-25); and by age 50, we produce only half as much DHEA as when we were in our twenties. This gradual decline continues.
Improve Heart Health With DHEA
According to research, as DHEA levels rise, the risk of heart failure declines. This means that lower levels of DHEA are associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Studies suggest that DHEA delays the onset of CAD (Coronary Artery Disease) and may benefit the entire cardiovascular system.
A study from Drs. Claes Ohlsson and Fernand Labrie suggested that lower DHEA levels were correlated to higher rates of death from heart disease. Another study presented at The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting suggested that low levels of DHEA are associated with an increased risk of heart and blood-vessel disease in men. In this medical research study, men with low DHEA levels were significantly more likely than those with higher DHEA levels to develop cardiovascular disease within five years. Research conducted in 2012 and published on PubMed shows that DHEA supplementation slows down changes in the heart, i.e., the cardiac remodeling that occurs with aging. The medical research also found that DHEA helps to reduce blood vessel wall tension because of its vasorelaxant properties. DHEA must be delivered to the body properly as a DHEA cream.
In two separate clinical studies, researchers found a significant difference in the health of epithelial cells, which are the cells that line the blood vessels. Epithelial cells allow for the elasticity of blood vessels, determining how well veins and arteries dilate and contract as blood is pumped through the body. The way our blood vessels contract and dilate is measured as blood pressure and is a strong predictor of future heart disease and cardiovascular problems. The study suggested that in subjects who were given DHEA on a daily basis, arterial dilation greatly improved during the course of the study.
Additionally, the studies showed that DHEA inhibited the formation of blood clots by preventing the body from releasing a protein called PAI-1, or plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1, which interferes with the body’s ability to dissolve the tiny blood clots that spontaneously form in our bloodstream. By reducing the release of PAI-1, DHEA can help our bodies dissolve these tiny blood clots before they become bigger, more serious — and potentially fatal — clots.
How To Take DHEA
Medical research shows the human body metabolizes alot of DHEA into other hormones in the skin (the dermis). A great deal of hormone metabolism occurs in the skin. So Twist 25 DHEA cream actually provides something the body produces uses naturally (bioidentical DHEA) in a place where where it is used naturally – the skin.
DHEA should be used as an absorbable skin cream rather than a pill to work best. Twist 25 is DHEA the right way. Twist 25 is an anti-aging skin cream that helps us feel and look our best and fight many diseases of aging. Think of it as an anti-aging skin care cream. Twist 25 DHEA cream is absorbed and processed in the skin. Oral DHEA ingested as a pill is mostly eliminated by the first-pass effect of the liver. The liver eliminates most DHEA before it can do any good. DHEA sulfate level rises slightly but not free DHEA. Medical research shows DHEA is converted into DHEA-S, but not the other way around. So DHEA-S is not converted by the body into DHEA. Twist 25 provides bioidentical DHEA, rather than DHEA-S, that is absorbed in the skin.