John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

Oxidation is a common body process where electrons are moved from one molecule to another. This is essential for extracting energy from food but can damage our cells causing disease. Fats such as cholesterol are especially vulnerable to damage from oxidation. This changes cholesterol to its dangerous oxidised form which can cause heart disease.

Cholesterol that becomes trapped in the walls of heart arteries is dangerous once oxidised. Immune cells ‘gobble' up the oxidised cholesterol as they would invading bacteria. The problem is that this accumulates in the immune cell till it is full of oxidised cholesterol which is the first step in forming plaques in arteries.

Fortunately we have protection against this process. When the liver is making the LDL carriers to move cholesterol around the body, it builds in vitamin E to prevent dangerous oxidation. Other antioxidants patrol our blood and prevent the same type of damage including vitamin C, the antioxidants in grape seeds and co enzyme Q10.

Another group of compounds called citrus flavones have some special tricks. As potent antioxidants they help to reduce cholesterol oxidation. Secondly they help balance the cholesterol we produce in particular the important ratio between HDL and LDL. They then help remove oxidised cholesterol and use this as a source of energy for your body. These are particularly effective when combined with a form of vitamin E from palm fruit as in Sytrinol®.

These flavones are extracted from tangerine skin and only supplements can deliver sufficient flavones to influence cholesterol balance. Sytrinol® is ideal for those who cannot tolerate cholesterol lowering medications or for those who would prefer a more natural solution.

We have seen excellent results with Sytrinol® when used as part of a cholesterol balance programme. In particular blood tests after 3 months use usually show improvements in the all-important LDL-HDL ratio. Give me a call or email john@abundant.co.nz if you need more information. Join my full weekly newsletter at www.abundant.co.nz

John Arts is a qualified nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health. Contact John on 0800 423 559. To read more go to www.sunlive.co.nz