Nitric Oxide and body building

Nitric Oxide (NO) can be commonly known as the exhaust gas that becomes poisonous Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) For some time, and in limited situations, inhaled NO gas -as a toxic vasodilator- has been used successfully in some very severe lung conditions.

The body's interaction with nitrates is epic. All the particulars of how the human body uses, and is effected by NO at the tissue level are just beginning to be understood. It's easy to see how the supplement industry can implicate NO precursors like L-arginine with post-menopausal symptoms and effects, impotence, headache, healing, exercise ability, disease prevention, and as a metabolic enhancement to steroids among others. Even though you can trace these associations to science, practical application through oral supplementation is not yet demonstrated. BTW, L-arginine is your common "natural" growth hormone supplement, see arginine hydrochloride.

Just in the last several months, newer studies have demonstrated positive effects of L-arginine supplementation for the treatment of hypertensive conditions associated with heart surgeries. Other studies showed potential positive benefit for cystic fibrosis, other heart conditions, and wound healing.

L-arginine is a pretty cheap supplement to produce. It's a naturally occurring amino acid and essentially non-toxic. You probably get all you need from a normal diet of chocolate, nuts, dairy and whole grains (not necessarily in that order.)I don't know much about potential other "sources" of Nitric Oxide as peddled in nutritional supplement land, but the jury is still way out, as far as published science is concerned, on L-arginine having positive impacts for otherwise healthy people, or for body builders in particular.

-dras

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=PagerDB=pubmed

Lim DS, Mooradian SJ, Goldberg CS, Gomez C, Crowley DC, Rocchini AP, Charpie JR. Effect of oral L-arginine on oxidant stress, endothelial dysfunction, and systemic arterial pressure in young cardiac transplant recipients. Am J Cardiol. 2004 Sep 15;94(6):828-31

Grasemann H, Grasemann C, Kurtz F, Tietze-Schillings G, Vester U, Ratjen F. Oral L-arginine supplementation in cystic fibrosis patients: a placebo-controlled study. Eur Respir J. 2005 Jan;25(1):62-8. PMID: 15640324

Neri I, Blasi I, Facchinetti F. Effects of acute L-arginine infusion on non-stress test in hypertensive pregnant women. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2004 Jul;16(1):23-6. PMID: 15370078

Rytlewski K, Olszanecki R, Korbut R, Zdebski Z. Effects of prolonged oral supplementation with l-arginine on blood pressure and nitric oxide synthesis in preeclampsia. Eur J Clin Invest. 2005 Jan;35(1):32-7. PMID: 15638817

Bednarz B, Jaxa-Chamiec T, Gebalska J, Herbaczynska-Cedro K, Ceremuzynski L. L-arginine supplementation prolongs exercise capacity in congestive heart failure. Kardiol Pol. 2004 Apr;60(4):348-53. English, Polish. PMID: 15226784

Bednarz B, Jaxa-Chamiec T, Maciejewski P, Szpajer M, Janik K, Gniot J, Kawka-Urbanek T, Drozdowska D, Gessek J, Laskowski H. Efficacy and safety of oral l-arginine in acute myocardial infarction. Results of multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled ARAMI pilot trial. Kardiol Pol. 2005 May;62(5):421-427. PMID: 15928719