"Oxegen" occurs what ails you
A big banner ad in my local paper this morning touts Oxegen (asupplement that purportedly increases nitrous oxide levels inthe body) as a wonder supplement that will boost your muscles,double or triple the caliber of your blood vessels*, improveyour sex life (I guess this follows from the first two claims)etc. etc. It is available at CVS drugstores (as the adrepeatedly reminds us). We are told that the supplement (or atleast its constituent ingredients) is backed by "controlled"clinical research, though of course none is listed in the ad.
My reply:
Since the late 80's much research has been done concerning Nitric oxide production and effects in the body. Abnormalities in the body's production of nitric oxide have been implicated in high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, diabetes, impotence, and stroke.
Per google and a quick MEDLINE search, Nitric oxide still appears to be a buzz-word in the supplement/body building industry with essentially all practical therapeutic application in science limited to clinical and animal studies.
Nitric Oxide (NO), commonly known as the exhaust gas that becomes poisonous Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), is very different, but often confused with Nitrous Oxide (N2O), which is more associated with dentists, racing, whipping cream, or effluence from landfills. Out of the anesthesia context, I'd wager the only time you see Nitrous Oxide mentioned in medicine is when it is being mistaken for Nitric Oxide.
When you have something as cheap to make as L-arginine, and understanding its association with NO production in the body, along with the maintained scientific hype over NO effects in the human body, it's no wonder related supplements are a genuine cash cow for the supplement industry.
Mind you... Despite nearly a decade of intense scientific research on the body's production of NO and the impact of the NO on the human body, no real practical products for the pharmaceutical industry (including L-arginine) have emerged (outside limited use of NO gas administered for severe lung conditions.) There have been some disappointing outcomes in the NO related studies.
Interesting stuff, at least from the scientific perspective, about which I could yak on for a few more paragraphs. The nutrition sites I visited sure sounded scientific. A few were 95% nonsense (much like the one below), some, I could not have written better to be more convincing. Even with a cutting edge understanding of the physiology, it's easy to see how ANYONE can get caught up in the speculation of what a product could do versus what it is known or shown to do.
-dr
My reply:
Since the late 80's much research has been done concerning Nitric oxide production and effects in the body. Abnormalities in the body's production of nitric oxide have been implicated in high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, diabetes, impotence, and stroke.
Per google and a quick MEDLINE search, Nitric oxide still appears to be a buzz-word in the supplement/body building industry with essentially all practical therapeutic application in science limited to clinical and animal studies.
Nitric Oxide (NO), commonly known as the exhaust gas that becomes poisonous Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), is very different, but often confused with Nitrous Oxide (N2O), which is more associated with dentists, racing, whipping cream, or effluence from landfills. Out of the anesthesia context, I'd wager the only time you see Nitrous Oxide mentioned in medicine is when it is being mistaken for Nitric Oxide.
When you have something as cheap to make as L-arginine, and understanding its association with NO production in the body, along with the maintained scientific hype over NO effects in the human body, it's no wonder related supplements are a genuine cash cow for the supplement industry.
Mind you... Despite nearly a decade of intense scientific research on the body's production of NO and the impact of the NO on the human body, no real practical products for the pharmaceutical industry (including L-arginine) have emerged (outside limited use of NO gas administered for severe lung conditions.) There have been some disappointing outcomes in the NO related studies.
Interesting stuff, at least from the scientific perspective, about which I could yak on for a few more paragraphs. The nutrition sites I visited sure sounded scientific. A few were 95% nonsense (much like the one below), some, I could not have written better to be more convincing. Even with a cutting edge understanding of the physiology, it's easy to see how ANYONE can get caught up in the speculation of what a product could do versus what it is known or shown to do.
-dr
posted by nawledge at
5:51 PM
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