I’m a stickler when it comes to wanting to know how plant extracts, vitamins, and minerals work in the body. So bear with me while I explain how one powerful compound, vinpocetine, works.

One of the most useful properties of vinpocetine is that it selectively blocks sodium channels in neural cells and heart cells, which in turn reduces the calcium content of the cell.

This is very beneficial, as too much calcium in certain cells can trigger a number of destructive reactions that can cause an organ, such as the brain or heart, to malfunction.

As a result, vinpocetine can reduce damage caused by blocked heart blood vessels (heart attack), reduce stroke damage, prevent acidosis, reduce swelling of tissues (such as in the brain), improve blood flow in blood vessels, and reduce glutamate excitotoxicity.

All of these properties are critical in protecting against heart damage and damage to the brain caused by a long list of diseases and injures.

Vinpocetine has also been shown to protect mitochondria, the main energy source within cells. It is also a powerful antioxidant, especially for some of the more destructive free radicals, such as the hydroxyl radical.

In addition, vinpocetine is a potent anti-inflammatory that reduces lipid peroxidation, a process of fat oxidation in tissues that is very destructive.

The mechanism by which it reduces inflammation is rather unique and could also play a major role in preventing and even treating cancers.