Poor microcirculation steals your life and your limbs

It’s been a while since I talked about microcirculation here. But I recently came across a new study that offers a rather shocking reminder of just how important this vast network of capillaries and small blood vessels is.

I’ve told you time and again that your life depends on good microcirculation. But today, I want to talk about your limbs. And more specifically, the ones you stand to lose if you don’t give this tiny system the attention it deserves.

More than 20 times the amputation risk   

This new study used data from more than 125,000 participants in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study to track amputation risk over the better part of a decade.

None of the veterans had amputations when the study began. But over time, a prominent trend began to emerge. Specifically, results showed:

• Microvascular disease nearly quadrupled the risk of lower limb amputation, accounting for close to 20 percent of all amputations.
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD) increased risk of lower limb amputation by 14-fold—and accounted for 22 percent of all amputations.
• A combination of microvascular disease and PAD raised the risk of lower limb amputation by 23-fold—accounting for nearly 50 percent of all amputations during the study period.

If this news terrifies you, it should.

Microvascular disease takes hold when you lose microcirculation to vital parts of your body, like your eyes (retinopathy) or your kidneys (nephropathy). PAD, meanwhile, restricts the arteries leading to your limbs—blocking nutrients, oxygen, and blood flow, and causing crippling leg pain and cramping called “intermittent claudication.”

Neither is considered as urgent as conditions like coronary artery disease—which is one reason why mainstream medicine offers a limited number of solutions. But as these statistics make abundantly clear, ignoring them comes with very real risk.

The study authors suggest close observation and foot care to ward off preventable amputation. And this is all well and good. But as usual, I’ve got better solutions—an especially critical one in particular.

Protect your limbs with pine bark

French maritime pine tree bark extract has made my Desert Island supplement list for so many years—specifically because of the unparalleled support it offers your microcirculation.

It nourishes this system by promoting collagen and elastin, which are the main building blocks of blood vessels and capillaries. And since microcirculation is an integral part of whole-body health, it explains why French maritime pine tree bark extract works so well for so many different health issues—from heart disease, to allergies and asthma, to preventing blood clots on long airplane rides.

It doesn’t hurt that this extract is well researched in human clinical trials. In fact, recent studies have shown that it can help with a staggeringly diverse list of conditions—from psoriasis and endometriosis pain, to varicose veins, hearing loss, and Meniere’s disease.

I recommend 50 to100 mg per day for general health. But for patients with PAD and other serious microcirculatory disorders, I bump that dose up to 200 mg.

And of course, that’s just one supplement that can help to improve your microcirculation. I’ve covered this topic a lot in the past, but you’ll find a more detailed protocol for combating peripheral artery disease in the November 2014 issue of my monthly newsletter, Logical Health Alternatives (“Wipe out crippling leg pain with this step-by-step strategy”).

Subscribers have access to that issue—and every other past issue—in my archives. So if you haven’t yet, what are you waiting for? Click here to sign up today.

Source:

“Microvascular disease anywhere in the body may be linked to higher risk of leg amputations.” Science Daily, 07/08/2019. (sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708084328.htm)