One of the best therapies Ive ever recommended is exercise with oxygen (EWOT). Ive talked about it in these pages many times and I get lots of phone calls from readers wanting to start it. One of the leading questions is the supplements (or drugs) that its originator, Manfred Von Ardenne recommended for best results.
Dr. Von Ardenne suggested vitamin B1 (thiamin, 199 mg) magnesium (as magnesium orotate, 100 mg) and the drug Persantine, all to be taken about 30 minutes prior to exercise. Thiamin provides an essential cofactor to burn oxygen. Magnesium dilates your blood vessels. I presume he used Persantine as a relatively safe means to reduce platelet stickiness. Platelets are the cells in your blood that initiate clots. Reducing their stickiness is a way to thin your blood. The main question Ive received is about Persantine, a drug that affects your platelets much like aspirin.
My personal departure from Dr. Von Ardenne is that Ive never recommended the drug.
Knowing a bit about its mechanism — affecting platelets — I preferred to use omega-3 oils. These oils can accomplish everything Persantine and aspirin does, in my opinion. The drugs effect on the biochemistry of platelets is almost mimicked by omega-3 fats. Hence, you would expect them to enhance blood flow.
My long-term recommendations have been borne out. A small study looked at blood flow in the brachial (arm) artery of 13 healthy volunteers. They were supplemented with the omega-3 fats DHA (2.0gm/D) and EPA (3.0 gm/D) for six weeks. They were compared to a group that took safflower oil (omega 6). The omega-3 group was found to have enhanced dilation of the artery (+14mm) and increased blood flow (+74ml/min.). Omega-3 fats accomplished this without an increase in heart rate or blood pressure.
Those are striking numbers. Whether or not you use oxygen with exercise, it appears that omega 3 can benefit your efforts. And if you are an EWOT user, this should alleviate any concerns you have of my departure from the founders methods. He just may not have known about omega-3 fat biochemistry as an alternative to the drug.
If you are doing EWOT, please consider adding omega-3 fats to your regimen together with magnesium and thiamin. With this study, you might agree with me that we have a good alternative to the drug Persantine.
Ref: Supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids augments brachial artery dilation and blood flow during forearm contraction, Walser B, Giordano RM, Stebbins CL, Eur J Appl Physiol., 2006; 97(3): 347-54.