Primo Health Blog

Nitric Oxide Boosters

By Gene Bruno, MHS

One of the latest categories of dietary supplements for athletes is nitric oxide (NO) boosters. In short, the concept is that nitric oxide helps regulate and direct muscle physiology by stimulating vasodilatation, which results in increased blood flow to working muscles. In turn, this leads to increased oxygen transport, delivery of nutrients to skeletal muscle, a reduction in blood pressure, helping to promote the repair of muscle fibers, and improvements in lactic acid clearance. So how does one boost NO levels?

What you eat and how often you eat play an important role in the health of your teeth and preventing cavities. Research shows that children who have healthy dietary practices are 44 percent less likely to exhibit severe dental caries in early childhood compared to children with poor diets.1 For adults, a healthy diet can protect tooth enamel and result in fewer trips to the dentist.

By Gene Bruno, MS, MHS – Dean of Academics, Huntington College of Health Sciences

Every bodybuilder knows the value and necessity of protein for supporting muscular repair and growth. Furthermore, most realize that it is some combination of amino acids in the protein that provide the actual support for growth. But which ones? The branched chain aminos, the essential aminos or all the aminos? As you might have guessed all of the aminos play some role in the supporting muscle growth, but newer research suggests that that it is the essential amino acids that play a particularly vital role in the synthesis of muscle protein. As a matter of fact, a specific blend of essential amino acids has been shown to promote up to a 400-600% increase in muscle protein synthesis.

In the last 20 years Americans have been consuming more milk and taking more calcium supplements than ever before, yet the rates of the bone crippling disease osteoporosis is rising. More than 10 millions women are diagnosed with osteoporosis. And another 34 million is believed to have “pre-osteoporosis” (osteopenia). Osteoporosis is disease progressive in nature where the bones become weaker and weaker, which makes the individual afflicted with the disease extremely susceptible to bone, fractures and changes in their posture. As derived from Latin, osteoporosis literally means “porous bones” (Balch, 2006, p. 605).

The Science of Bathing

Water is commonly employed to affect the human body using hot baths to relax muscles or ice packs to reduce swelling. In holistic medicine, water is also used as a healing modality to restore proper blood flow and ultimately restore the health of the blood and the whole person. Water is a miraculous substance because it can carry great amounts of energy and heat. It conducts heat to and from a living system and can conform itself to any shape. The use of water to restore health is commonly referred to as hydrotherapy.

Hydrotherapy can be performed in many ways, but essentially it causes tissues to relax (heat) and then contract (cold), thereby moving stagnated blood and immune components, releasing toxins, easing stress, and flooding tissues with nutrients. There are many other types of hydrotherapy, such as alternating heat and cold packs, alternating hot and cold soaks on specific parts of the body, poultices, compresses, and constitutional hydrotherapy (typically done by doctor or trained staff). One powerful form of hydrotherapy you can do at home is bathing.

Herbal COX-2 Inhibitors

By Gene Bruno, MS, MHS – Dean of Academics, Huntington College of Health Sciences 

On September 30, 2004, the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Inc. announced a voluntary worldwide withdrawal of VIOXX^® (rofecoxib), its arthritis and acute pain COX-2 inhibitor medication. The company’s decision, was based on data from a new, three-year prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial, which showed that after 18 months of use, VIOXX^® increased relative risk for confirmed cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke.¹ Almost immediately commentary began about the potential for natural COX-2 inhibitors to fill the VIOXX^® void.²

It is the position of this author that natural COX- 2 inhibitors may very well provide a viable alternative to VIOXX^®. To understand why this might be so, let’s first discuss the COX-2