We have been recommending IP6 (inositol hexaphosphate) for several years, primarily for helping to reduce minor serum iron elevation. IP6 is an excellent chelator of metals and is fairly inexpensive and highly available in stores and through online health supplement distributors.
We have become aware of some other important uses of IP6 that you should know about. If you want to do some reading on IP6, get ready for some deep water. I will try to break it all down into manageable bits. But first let’s talk about some basics:
IP6 is also known as inositol hexaphosphate, myo-inositol hexaphosphate, or phytic acid. It is a naturally occurring carbohydrate and is present in most plant and animal cells (much smaller levels in animal cells) so you can get some IP6 from just about any diet, but there are higher levels in cereals and legumes. IP6 is typically involved in common cellular functions like signal transduction, cell growth and differentiation, platelet activity, and cholesterol metabolism.
As well as chelating iron, IP6 can also chelate calcium. About 20 years ago, some researchers began asking the question about the role of calcium buildup in the heart and its relationship to heart disease. They hypothesized that excess dietary calcium was a contributor as cultures with a high dairy product intake have higher rates of heart disease. Getting calcium just right is key. Researchers and clinicians continue to work with CT scans for cardiac calcium measurements. There is some controversy about the level of cardiac calcium and its relationship to heart disease. However, nobody thinks having calcium buildup in your heart is a good thing.
When clinicians look at your CT scan and decide that you have too much calcium in your heart, they are at a loss as to how to help except to use standard methods to try to prevent heart attacks like Lipitor and/or small doses of aspirin, etc.
Therefore, the medical approach is to just use the typical drugs to try to lower heart attack risk without really addressing the calcium buildup. We think it makes sense to get your cardiac CT scan, take a couple of caps of IP6 a day, reduce your intake of dairy products, increase your intake of brown rice (high levels of IP6 in rice bran), and then retest your cardiac calcium in about six months.
An interesting side note: researchers have been trying to lower the amount of IP6 in grains without success because plants don’t live well without IP6 any better than we do.
To help increase our IP6 levels, we have been using Pure Encapsulations IP6 500mg capsules in the 180 bottle. You can find this and other online health supplement products at OVitaminPro.com.
