#453 Nitric Oxide: The Molecule for Better Blood Flow and Longevity

Dr. Nathan Bryan (0:00)

This loss of nitric oxide production is really the earliest event in the onset and progression of chronic disease. So, because if you have vascular dysfunction in the blood vessels of the sex organs, then it's not just isolated to your sex organs, it's a systemic disease. You've got that same dysfunction in the blood vessels of your heart, the brain, the kidneys, the lungs, the liver. It's systemic disease that manifests in the sex organs.

Siim Land (0:23)

Dr. Nathan, welcome to the show.

Dr. Nathan Bryan (0:25)

Thanks so much. Great to be with you.

Siim Land (0:27)

Yeah, I'm very happy to have you on my podcast. When I was researching about nitric oxide, then you were one of the main authors and researchers that came up. So I'm really excited to have you on the show and talk about nitric oxide, which is this fascinating molecule. Maybe we can start with you giving a short overview of what is nitric oxide and why should people care in the first place.

Dr. Nathan Bryan (0:54)

Yeah, that's a good question. And again, thanks for your interest and thanks for having me on. I think it's critically important that you're all learning to understand what this molecule is. But it's a gas that's naturally produced. It's produced in most cells in the human body. It's a signaling molecule. But it's responsible for things like vasodilation, dilating the blood vessels, improving circulation, blood flow. It's responsible for the delivery of oxygen by hemoglobin.

It mobilizes stem cells. So with nitric oxide, we have an increased number of stem cells in circulation, so we can recover from injury, repair and replace dysfunctional cells. It activates our mitochondria, so we can better produce cellular energy, ATP, more efficiently. And it prevents the telomeres, the ends of our chromosomes from getting shorter. So it's really what we call a longevity molecule. Everything we know about living long, healthy lives can be attributed to adequate nitric oxide production. And to the contrary, if you lose the ability to produce nitric oxide, then it leads to the rapid onset of chronic disease and poor quality of life.

Siim Land (2:06)

Yeah. Yeah, like it's linked to a lot of these chronic diseases, like heart disease and neurodegeneration, kidney disease as well, and hypertension. So yeah, it's like in the modern world, where kind of clearly something is wrong in the sense that a lot of people are getting more sick, and the lifestyle doesn't really support, I guess, adequate nitric oxide production. And with age, you also see a decline in the blood circulation and other things that decrease nitric oxide production.

Dr. Nathan Bryan (2:41)

Yeah, we understand kind of how the human body makes nitric oxide. We certainly understand today what lifestyle, and really it's the Western diet, the Western lifestyle, drug therapy, oral hygienic practices. Really, there are many things that lead to a rapid loss or decline of nitric oxide production. As you said, this loss of nitric oxide production is really the earliest event in the onset and progression of chronic disease. So it's really hard to change people's habits. It's one of the most difficult things to do is change someone's habits. So compliance is an issue. But I think as we understand the science of nitric oxide more, and understand what leads to a loss of its production, and then really communicate whether it's diabetes or Alzheimer's or heart disease or erectile dysfunction, those are the things that occur as a result of the loss of the ability to produce nitric oxide. So again, people are motivated by fear. And I think we have to, really, I don't want to be fear mongering, but you have to understand that Alzheimer's, for example, is one of the most feared conditions in the world. And it's clear that if you lose the ability to produce nitric oxide, you're eventually going to get Alzheimer's. So we have to communicate this new and fascinating science around nitric oxide so we can empower people to take control of their own health, stop doing the things that disrupt nitric oxide production, and start doing the things that promote it, and live a longer, healthier life. And that's really our mission.

Siim Land (4:08)

Yeah. So with inadequate nitric oxide production, you'll have, the first thing that you mentioned, would be like a decline in this vasodilation. So your arteries become more stiffer, and there's less blood flow and more plaque accumulation in the arteries, and yeah, just like worse, like a supply of nutrients to different regions of the body because of that, and like hypertension. So the vasoconstriction increases the blood pressure in the blood vessels as well.