When we think about what makes us tick, we think about cells. But those cells would be nothing more than human pond scum spread out over the earth’s surfaces if they weren’t shaped, supported, and in signaling networks with the meshwork of biological proteins known as the extracellular matrix, or ECM. The ECM shapes the heart’s four chambers and the familiar outlines of our kidneys and livers. And it’s the flexible, functional tubing that carries blood from the pumping heart out to the lungs to gather life-giving oxygen, and then back to the heart, where yet more ECM proteins distribute oxygen and nutrients to our brains, muscles, and inner organs — even the heart itself. But the ECM becomes damaged with aging, stiffening our hearts so they can’t pump effectively, and making our arteries less flexible. The loss of elasticity in our arteries causes our blood pressure to rise, and robs them of their ability to buffer the delicate structures of our kidneys and brains against the pounding pulse.

The ECM is the scaffold and support that binds our bodies together and sculpts and signals how our cells behave. Like the frame of a house, when it breaks down, everything else falls down with it. Hold it together: support GlycoSENS!