What about using L-arginine to boost nitric oxide production?
Many popular nitric oxide boosters use L-Arginine as a way to boost nitric oxide production.
Taking L-arginine can be useful for some in the short term, but can actually become harmful in the long term. Within the body it is a precursor to the formation of nitric oxide. Your body takes l-arginine and using something called NOS (nitric oxide synthase), it creates nitric oxide. If NOS doesn’t work or is what we call uncoupled, it will not work. Nitric oxide production will be impaired.
Although some people take it as a supplement, L-arginine is actually made within your body from glutamine, glutamate, and proline, and it is also found in many protein rich foods. The problem with supplementing or taking daily products with high levels of L-arginine is that the body doesn’t know what to do with all of that l-arginine.
When the system is flooded with l-arginine, it can hang around and instead of being used by NOS (nitric oxide synthase) to make more nitric oxide. Instead of being useful, it is transformed through methylation and ultimately becomes ADMA (Asymmetric Dimethylarginine).
ADMA actually blocks the activity of NOS (nitric oxide synthase) that is necessary for the production of nitric oxide. With NOS blocked or uncoupled, this can become a toxic situation for your body.
There is actually a strong relationship between high levels of ADMA and major cardiac events like heart attack.
This is why I do not recommend that l-arginine based supplements are taken long term. As you age, the amount of functional NOS is already low. Lowering the NOS even further by taking too much l-arginine could become catastrophic.
Inorganic nitrates like the ones found in the fruit and vegetables within my E-Function Smoothie Recipes, as well as the kind found in nitrate based supplements can help reactivate or couple NOS so that it can start back making more nitric oxide.