How to live longer: The popular supplement that could help boost your life expectancy

Deciding what to put into your body is critical. Good choices mostly lead to good results, and vice versa. Could one supplement help you on your journey for a long and prosperous life?

One popular supplement has been shown to help keep your heart healthy. This muscle literally is your lifeline.

The heart

LiveScience states the heart is roughly the size of a large fist, divided into four chambers.

The heart beating muscle has two upper chambers (atria) and two lower chambers (ventricles).

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And this powerful life-giving muscle beats around 100,000 times per day. If you value your life, you’ll value your heart.

Research from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, at the National Institute of Nutrition, discovered one supplement could improve heart health.

The researchers recognised that cardiovascular disease is “one of the major causes of death in adults in the western world”.

Cardiovascular disease is the general term for conditions that affect the heart (or blood vessels).

Elevated cholesterol levels have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Thus, the researchers examined the effect of a probiotic supplement on cholesterol levels.

They found that probiotic supplements may help reduce cholesterol by breaking down bile in the gut.

Britannica explained that bile is a greenish yellow secretion, produced by the liver, that is transported to the small intestine.

There, its function is to aid digestion. Bile is composed of bile acids and salts, phospholipids, cholesterol, pigements, water and electrolyte chemicals.

By breaking down the bile, probiotic supplementation can help prevent cholesterol from being reabsorbed into the bloodstream.

Additionally, the Research Department of Human Nutrition at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University investigated the link between probiotic supplementation and cholesterol levels.

They conducted a meta-analysis, gathering information from six studies that observed the effects of probiotics on cholesterol for up to two months.

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The data revealed that eating a probiotic yoghurt for two to eight weeks reduced total cholesterol by four percent and LDL cholesterol by five percent.

LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is regarded as “bad” cholesterol, as too much of it can clog up the arteries and lead to cardiovascular disease.

As well as looking after your heart, it’s important to keep an eye on your weight.

The NHS attributes obesity to a number of life-threatening conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, cancers and strokes.

Researchers from Laval University, Canada, observed the effects of a probiotic on weight loss and maintenance in obese women.

Specifically, they investigated the effects of probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus on obese individuals over a period of 24 weeks.

Volunteers were either supplemented two capsules of the probiotic or the placebo everyday, alongside dieting.

Results revealed that those who had taken the supplement lost 50 percent more weight than those who didn’t.

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