A lot of vitamins are needed to ensure heart health, from B vitamins essential for energy production to antioxidants, folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12, which reduces your risk for heart disease. But maintaining a steady rhythm and strong heartbeat depends on a group of minerals working together.
Potassium
When potassium dissolves it becomes positively charged and is capable of conducting electricity. The concentration of potassium outside the cells is 30 times higher than inside the cells, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. This difference in electrical charges allows muscle and nerve cells to transmit electrical signals that stimulate muscle contraction and communication between nerves. In this role, potassium is essential for maintaining your heartbeat.
Sodium
Sodium works opposite potassium. It is also an electrolyte, which means that when it dissolves in water it carries an electric charge. Sodium is negatively charged and is found in higher concentrations inside the cell. The differences in the electrical charges result in electrical impulses that regulate muscle activity as sodium and potassium cross the cell walls.
Sodium Pump
Strict concentrations of potassium and sodium must be constantly maintained by pumps that transport sodium and potassium across the cell walls. There are between 800,000 and 30 million pumps on the surface of cells, according to Colorado State. A balance of sodium and potassium is needed to ensure heart rhythm. Some heart medications, such as digitalis, target the activity of the pumps to increase the strength of the heart's beat.
Magnesium
Magnesium regulates the heartbeat by enabling muscles to relax. Its role in lowering the risk of an irregular heartbeat is so important that it is sometimes given intravenously to people hospitalized for cardiovascular disease, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Calcium
Calcium has the opposite role of magnesium. When heart muscle is stimulated, calcium that's stored inside muscle cells is released and causes the muscle to contract. Your heart needs calcium and magnesium working together to control the heartbeat.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D has an important supportive role because you must have vitamin D for calcium to be absorbed. Vitamin D may also slightly increase the absorption of magnesium, but magnesium absorption is not dependent on its presence, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.
Member Comments