Pathways to cardiovascular disease - Part 3: excessive sport activities

In our series of articles, we will go through the life and health factors leading to platelet aggregation, i.e. blood clot formation. Our third topic is too much sports, excessive sport activities.

The three main factors in cardiovascular disease (CVD): high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and platelet aggregation are the three main causes of blood clots. Unfortunately, there are many more factors related to age, lifestyle, and chronic inflammation that can induce platelet activation, which can lead to blood clot formation.

Platelet hyperactivity is associated with conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, or occurs in people living in areas with high air pollution; the increased risk of thrombosis observed in the COVID-19 infection as a result of the listed factors drown the attention to the importance of these issues.

Other factors that can trigger platelet activation that can lead to blood clots include:

• Metabolic diseases are associated with chronic inflammation and platelet activation
• Chronic inflammation associated with infections
• Too much vigorous training, heavy sports
• Smoking / smoggy, polluted air environment
• A lot of tension and stress
• Menopause

Dietary anticoagulants, such as Cardio Fortis Natural Dietary Supplement with Fruitflow® Extract, are suitable for daily use, especially in individuals known to have a higher risk profile for complications from serious infections. Risk factors include being overweight, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, atherosclerosis, and age over 40.¹

Exercise-induced inflammation

Exercise is commonly associated with good health, and the common belief is that more exercise leads to longer life, better mental health, fewer metabolic problems, stronger bones, better cardiovascular health events. However, strenuous exercise is actually associated with an increased risk of vascular thrombotic events and sudden death.³ Exercise-related stress is experienced in the form of shortness of breath, muscle fatigue or even acute pain. At the molecular level, during exercise we trigger an inflammatory burst mediated by platelets. Excessive exercise releases adrenaline and serotonin and produces thrombin⁴, which leads to platelet activation.

In addition, vigorous aerobic exercise can reduce the amount of the anti-aggregation nitric oxide (NO) produced by the vascular endothelium, particularly in case of untrained people, by reducing the amount of oxygen reaching NO-producing cells.⁵ Hyperaggregatibility ensues, than platelets coordinate a row of pro-inflammatory events.⁶

This sequence of events has two significant consequences. First of all, the blood's ability to clot and form blood clots increases after exercise. This state is called hypercoagulability and can last up to 48 hours after exercise.⁷ The degree of hypercoagulability depends on the duration and intensity of the exercise performed, as well as the nature of the exercise; for less trained individuals, this value can be worse in the case of lower-intensity sports activity than in the case of higher-intensity training in well-trained, routine athletes. This increased clotting ability can be dangerous, especially in those with underlying medical conditions such as atherosclerosis or heart problems, which can lead to an increased risk of thrombosis and sometimes sudden death.⁸ The second underlying cause of platelet activation is therefore the inflammation that occurs during exercise.

A small exploratory study using the treadmill test showed that intake of the Cardio Fortis Fruitflow® component reduced exercise-induced platelet micro-particle formation and reduced thrombin generation capacity. For those who regularly exercise actively, the consumption of Cardio Fortis is definitely recommended.

Your heart is important to us: prevention, naturally

Cardio Fortis is a natural dietary supplement for healthy blood flow with Fruitflow® extract, rutin and resveratrol to help maintain normal platelet aggregation, which contributes to healthy blood flow.

Fruitflow® was evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and in 2009 was awarded the first approved 13.5. Article (proprietary) health claim: "Fruitflow® helps maintain normal platelet aggregation, which contributes to healthy blood flow." ⁹

Cardio Fortis therefore consists of 3 natural ingredients that can contribute to healthy blood circulation and blood vessel health, supporting healthy blood flow. Read more about the product!

For whom is Cardio Fortis recommended?

If you answered yes to any of the questions below, you should take into consideration taking Cardio Fortis on a daily basis.

• Are you over 40?
• Do you live in a smoggy, big city?
• Are you living a stressful life?
• Are you doing too much sedentary work?
• Do you travel a lot by plane?
• Do you engage in strenuous sports activities?
• Have you entered menopause?
• Are you overweight?
• Do you have high cholesterol?
• Do you have diabetes?
• Do you suffer from chronic inflammation?
• Do you have high blood pressure?
• Do you suffer from atherosclerosis?
• Do you suffer from atherothrombosis?

References

1. O’Kennedy, N.; Duttaroy, A.K. Platelet hyperactivity in COVID-19: Can Fruitflow® tomato extract be used as an antiplatelet system?. Med. Hipothesis 2021, 147, 110480 (forrás)
2. Konings, J.; Kremers, R.; Bloemen, S.; Schurgers, E.; Selmeczi, A.; Kelchtermans, H.; Van Meel, R.; Meex, S.J.; Kleinegris, M.-C.; De Groot, P.G.; et al. Strenuous exercise induces a hyperreactive rebalanced haemostatic state that is more pronounced in men. 2016, 115, 1109–1119. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
3. Galloza, J.; Castillo, B.; Micheo, W. Benefits of Exercise in the Older Population. Rehabil. Clin. N. Am. 2017, 28, 659–669. [CrossRef]
4. Sedgwick, M.J.; Thompson, M.; Garnham, J.; Thackray, A.E.; Barrett, L.A.; Powis, M.; Stensel, D.J. Acute high-intensity interval rowing increases thrombin generation in healthy men. Appl. Physiol. 2016, 116, 1139–1148. [CrossRef
5. Nosarev, A.V.; Smagliy, L.V.; Eanfinogenova, Y.; Popov, S.; Kapilevich, L.V. Exercise and NO production: Relevance and implications in the cardiopulmonary system. Cell Dev. Biol. 2015, 2, 73. [CrossRef]
6. Hilberg, T.; Menzel, K.; Gläser, D.; Zimmermann, S.; Gabriel, H.H.W. Exercise intensity: Platelet function and platelet-leukocyte conjugate formation in untrained subjects. 2008, 122, 77–84. [CrossRef] [PubMed
7. Smith, J.E. Effects of strenuous exercise on haemostasis. Sports Med. 2003, 37, 433–435. [CrossRef]
8. Montagnana, M.; Lippi, G.; Franchini, M.; Banfi, G.; Guidi, G.C. Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes. 2008, 47, 1373–1378. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
9. World Health Organization, ‘Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) fact sheet’, Accessed on: 17th October 2017 [WHO]