The leading cause of death in the Western world is atherosclerosis. As we age seniors low density lipoproteins (LDLs) become oxidized, which results in the oxidized LDLs accumulating on arterial walls. This accumulation of oxidized LDLs on the arterial walls causes hardening of the arteries. Recent research has shown that in seniors the high density lipoproteins (HDLs) that normally prevent the LDLs from becoming oxidized are not able to perform this function. The researchers suspect that as we age one of the HDL’s helper enzymes, known as paraoxynase (PON-1), drops to a lower level in the blood. PON-1 is produced in the liver and after it is released into the blood it attaches to the HDL, in order to assist the HDL to inhibit the buildup of lipoperoxides in LDL cholesterol.
The researchers have demonstrated that there is a correlation between folks with low blood levels of PON-1 and cardiovascular disease risk. Seniors need to counter the age related drop in PON-1 levels in the blood by raising their PON-1 levels. It turns out that there are several substances that have been found to boost PON-1 levels. Pomegranate and its extracts have shown to increase the PON-1 levels in the blood by a large amount. Two other potential PON-1 boosters have been identified as quercetin and resveratrol. This is good news for seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive aging steps to support their cardiovascular health by reducing their cardiac risk.