High Cholesterol – Avoid This “Healthier” Alternative

We’re all guilty of some bad lifestyle habits from time to time. And when we realize this, we usually try to look for healthier alternatives.

When it comes to your cardiovascular health, this may not always be the idea.

There is a specific bad habit often related to high blood pressure and cholesterol – however, according to a new study published in the latest edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, the healthy alternative may be no better.

An e-cigarette is an electronic cigarette, a battery-powered device that heats a liquid to generate an aerosol that the user would inhale. It is meant to simulate smoking and thereby wean smokers from their smoking habit.

The liquids they heat are typically made of nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine, water, and a variety of flavorings.

The authors of the new study were interested in the effects of the heated flavorings on endothelial cells, which are the cells that line your blood vessels.

They tested nine of the most popular flavorings on both donated endothelial cells and on commercially available human aortic endothelial cells in the laboratory and found that all the flavorings had a tendency to harm these cells.

Mint, clove, vanilla, cinnamon, and burnt flavoring caused higher levels of an inflammatory marker, called interleukin-6 (IL-6), and lowered levels of nitric oxide. These two specific changes put us at great risk of heart attack and stroke.

Clove and vanilla increased oxidant stress in the cells.

All nine of these flavorings caused cell death when applied to the cells in high amounts.

Cinnamon, clove, strawberry, banana, and spicy cooling caused cell death, even in low amounts.

Strawberry caused cell death at very low levels.

So, even if e-cigarettes may (or may not) be better than tobacco, you would only be exchanging one bad habit for another.

Now how about if your blood pressure is too high? Well, do these 3 easy blood pressure exercises to bring it below 120/80 – starting today…

And if your cholesterol is too high – discover how cutting out this one ingredient (which you didn’t even know you were consuming) would normalize high cholesterol in 30 days or less…