The 5 Biggest Mistakes Secretly Destroying Your Arteries (& Spiking Your Blood Pressure)

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Secretly Destroying Your Arteries (& Spiking Your Blood Pressure)

Author Name:Dr. Eric Berg DC

Youtube Channel Url:https://www.youtube.com/@Drberg

Youtube Video URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQLIQXAeo-k



Transcript:
(00:00) There are five daily habits that are destroying your nitric oxide [music] and spiking your blood pressure. There is a conflicting viewpoint regarding nitric oxide. On one side, you have researchers, cardiologists, exercise scientists all saying nitric oxide is one of the most beneficial things for your body.
(00:18) And then in the opposite side, you have Ray Peat, who is a physiologist who spent 40 years studying [music] cellular biology. He said that nitric oxide is one of the most damaging things that your mitochondria can be exposed to. That it suppresses the thyroid gland. It drives inflammation. It depletes you of cellular energy. So, we have serious researchers on both sides saying the exact opposite thing.
(00:43) This is called conflicting data. When we have two opinions opposing each other. And what's missing in this conversation is there are three versions of nitric oxide. One works on the inside of the blood vessels, one targets the neurons in your brain, and one is mainly involved in your immune system. In the first factory, the job of nitric oxide is to relax your arteries.
(01:08) And when the signals are gone, those arteries stiffen. So, all day long your arteries are constantly producing nitric oxide. In fact, Viagra, which is used in erectile dysfunction, works by increasing nitric oxide in your genitalia. And the reason why people take it is as they age, nitric oxide goes down.
(01:29) By the time you're 40, you have only 50% of what you produced when you were 20 years old. And then number two, you have this factory in the brain that produces nitric oxide. In this situation, the nitric oxide is a signal between the neurons. And then in factory three, it has everything to do with your immune system.
(01:48) When your body is under a threat, this engine or factory fires up by a factor of a thousand times more. And then it's supposed to shut off. A lot of times our body never shuts off. What Ray Peat was documenting for 40 years is exactly what happens when factory number three runs on for years instead of 48 hours. And he was right about every single finding, the mitochondrial damage, the thyroid suppression, the energy drainage, the inflammation loop that keeps going on and on and on.
(02:24) But where he went wrong is he didn't differentiate number three from two and factory number one. He considered all nitric oxide dangerous. Also, if you think about it, nitric oxide is in arugula, cacao, or beets, spinach, or by exercising. And I'm not sure if I've ever heard about anyone dying by eating arugula, cacao, or beets, or by exercising.
(02:50) But when you remove nitric oxide in animals, factory number one, they develop severe hypertension and die early. So now let's get into specifically the five habits that are destroying your nitric oxide. Number five. Did you realize that your mouth bacteria take the nitrates from the vegetables that you're eating and convert them into nitric oxide? And so this mechanism right here becomes very important as you age because as you get older, you lose your ability to make nitric oxide.
(03:22) And so you want this mechanism right here to compensate for the loss of nitric oxide. Well, when you're exposed to broad-spectrum antibiotics, you kill the bacteria in your mouth and you no longer get this conversion. I mean, even if you look at some of the side effects from broad-spectrum antibiotics, you will notice that blood pressure is one of the side effects. Interesting.
(03:45) I wonder if there's a connection. So what is the fix when you take broad-spectrum antibiotics? Probiotics. Okay, fermented foods, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi. I have a free download that I want to give to you. This free download is my daily routine and a checklist. This is a routine that I use every day to feel like I'm 18 years old even though I'm 60 years old and I want to give it to you for free.
(04:09) And so there's a little link down below, click it and definitely download that. Number four, nitrates in processed meats. Now certain vegetables, arugula, beets, spinach all have nitrates, okay? There's a big difference between those nitrates and the chemical nitrates in processed meats. These nitrates can break down into harmful things and create oxidation and even increase your risk for certain types of cancer.
(04:36) So it's really important if you consume processed meats to also at the same time consume foods that can protect you, okay? Like garlic, onion, things like that. Number three, blood sugar spikes. Repeated blood sugar spikes massively create oxidative stress and this is exactly why a diabetic has a major disaster in their arteries because of the suppression of nitric oxide.
(05:02) Number two is your gut lining. Now remember in number three we talked about the immune system. When you destroy the gut lining, guess what's right behind that? Your immune system. So once you break that internal digestive barrier, the immune system reads it as a full on war and it's now in an emergency mode. And unfortunately, if any of these cause high blood pressure, the person is treated for high blood pressure.
(05:28) They don't look deeper at what's driving the high blood pressure. And number one is mouthwash. If you use mouthwash twice a day, you potentially can create a 90% reduction in your nitric oxide. A three-year study found that people using antibacterial mouthwash twice a day had an 85% higher rate of getting hypertension than those who did not.
(05:52) This was published in the American Journal of Hypertension and also confirmed again in 2026. So, a lot of people ask me, "What supplements do I recommend?" Now, of course, I'm not biased with my own high-quality supplement line, but if you go to Amazon and type Dr. Berg supplements, you'll find more information.
(06:09) There's a couple other really important things that you should be doing right now to increase your nitric oxide. Nasal breathing instead of mouth breathing. Get used to it. You'll increase your nitric oxide. Out of all the vegetables that increase nitric oxide, arugula is at the top of the list. Beets or beet juice increases nitric oxide.
(06:30) Cacao, which is raw, unsweetened chocolate, increases nitric oxide. And in the morning, just put a little bit in your coffee. And because microbes are involved in making nitric oxide, start consuming more fermented vegetables. But, the biggest driver for nitric oxide is consistent, regular exercise. And I recently did a video on an exercise that lets you release the most nitric oxide in your body.
(06:57) But, whether you've seen it or not, you should watch this video right here. I think you'll enjoy it.