Ever hear the term myocardial infarction?

Like every other muscle in the body, the heart requires an ample supply of oxygen in order to function. Oxygen is supplied by three coronary arteries, two of which are large and branch off into smaller arteries, all delivering the vital oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. If any of those arteries are suddenly blocked, it causes a condition known as cardiac ischemia where the muscle is being starved of oxygen. If cardiac ischemia continues long enough, heart muscle tissue begins to die which results in a heart attack. This is known as a myocardial infarction (death of heart muscle). The older we get, the more likely many of us are to suffer this kind of heart attack.

In many cases, the symptoms of a myocardial infarction can last for a few hours before it becomes fatal, so the sooner a person gets treatment, the better the chances of survival are.

The symptoms include chest pain, heaviness in the chest, pain in the arm, back or jaw and sometimes nausea and shortness of breath. There are other symptoms as well, but if you experience any of these, get help as soon as possible.

Researchers at the King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia have discovered that taking a combination of two supplements can reduce the risk of suffering an MI heart attack.

“Combining carnitine with vitamin E may effectively reduce the risk of developing myocardial infarction (MI), according to a study published in the African Journal of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines. A team of health experts at the King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia used animal models of MI to carry out the study.”

‘The rats were divided into five groups, three of which were given either carnitine, vitamin E or both, while one group was given a standard diet and another one served as the control arm. The combination treatment was also given for up to 21 days. The animals were then injected with isoproterenol for three consecutive days to induce MI. The results revealed that the combination treatment helped improve coronary flow in the treated animals.”

“Likewise, the findings revealed that animals treated with the combination treatment attained significant improvements in the recovery of rate pressure product (RPP) and left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) compared with their untreated counterparts. The researchers also observed that the levels of cardiac inflammatory markers interleukine-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF- α) were greatly reduced in treated rats. Moreover, the combination treatment helped reduce the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), which served as a hallmark of MI onset.”

Both carnitine and Vitamin E are available at most stores that sell vitamins and supplements. It may be worth the few dollars to add these to your daily regime. After all, what do you have to lose, other than your life?