CHONDROITIN SULFATE
The following is a sales letter for a product called NUTRI-SPEC, a Chondroitin Sulfate blend. Despite it being a sales letter, it does provide some important information about Chondroiting Sulfate as a heart medicine and not just a compound for joints. I love its description of CS right off the bat as "the patriarch of the family of compounds."
Chondroitin sulfate is the patriarch
of the family of compounds that once were known as mucopolysaccharides, and
which have more recently been re-named glycosaminoglycans, or GAGS. It is even
more absurd with chondroitin sulfate than with glucosamine that the health food
industry has pigeon-holed it as an arthritis remedy when that is only one of
many (and not nearly the most important) beneficial effect it offers. Of all
the amazing ingredients in Formula ES and Go Power/Diphasic A.M., chondroitin
sulfate gives you the greatest power over cardiovascular disease. Before we
describe the biological activity of this amazing substance let us make one
thing perfectly clear with respect to your NUTRI-SPEC supplements – they do not
contain some crude cartilage concentrate passed off as chondroitin sulfate. This is the real thing. This
is chondroitin-4-sulfate, the biologically active compound (also known as
chondroitin sulfate A). There are a lot of companies out there selling products
they call chondroitin sulfate that is nothing more than powdered beef trachea.
That crude substance has a tiny fraction of the biological activity, and quite
frankly, isn't worth a fraction of the cost. Chondroitin sulfate (CS) has
many important functions in human physiology. Many of
those functions relate to the structure and function of joints and other
connective tissues. The importance of CS to connective tissues will be
discussed in future Letters. For now, let us concentrate on the most important
function of CS – the protection of the cardiovascular system.
And by the way, when it says "cardiovascular system," it's also including your highly vascular brain. Whereas Chondroitin Sulfate is recommended as a heart medicine, and it definitely repairs the heart, it also repairs all vascular injuries throughout your body. Here are the benefits:
CS helps maintain
arterial elasticity. (Remember, arteries are largely connective tissue.)
CS retards the
arteriosclerotic and aging processes within the arterial wall.
CS also possesses
lipid clearing activity. It lowers cholesterol and triglycerides, and it
normalizes the ratio between HDL, LDL, and VLDL.
Most importantly, CS
clears lipids not just in the serum but from within the cells as well.
CS supplementation
has also been shown to significantly reduce angina in patients with
cardiovascular disease.
CS has been found
to protect against thrombus formation.
The most striking
statistic regarding CS supplementation shows that in cardiovascular
disease patients treated with CS, the likelihood of having a myocardial infarct, suffering
coronary insufficiency, or myocardial ischemia.
You may want more proof. Then please check out Bill Sardi's page on Chondroitin Sulfate where he has persuasive photographs along with cases of individuals with cardiovascular injuries who've recovered from taking Chondroitin Sulfate.