L Arginine Supplement Benefits
L Arginine is an amino acid that is not particularly well known by the wellness community however, a L Arginine supplement could have some very strong benefits and influences on our health. The amino acid L Arginine is not an essential amino acid. It is considered by some to be a semi-essential amino acid.
You are thought to need at least 2.5g of L Arginine per day, to support minimum requirements for tissue repair and protein synthesis. L Arginine is readily absorbed by the body in the small intestine. 9 grams of L Arginine is thought to be optimal for absorption. All the 20 amino acids regularly used by the body may be considered to be vital. Especially if one is regularly exercising or competing at levels outside of the average person. The foods highest in L Arginine include nuts, watermelon juice and some seafoods.
L Arginine is a crucial building block of our body proteins, playing an important role in our overall metabolism. L Arginine has been shown to naturally stimulate protein synthesis and cell growth, which promotes sperm production and wound healing.
Supplementation with L Arginine may improve circulating levels of insulin, fertility, growth hormone, encourage gluconeogenesis and improve blood vessel endothelial function.
It has the potential to initiate many of effects because of the systemic role of L Arginine as a nutrient within the body. In this article, we will look at the potential health benefits of a supplement containing L Arginine.
L Arginine Supplement Benefits For Exercise
A L Arginine supplement may have benefits for athletes or those wanting to make muscle gains in the gym. Ensuring muscles are supplied with a healthy amounts of nutrients for energy production, such as amino acids and glucose, is vital for optimal muscle performance.
Not only does L Arginine support healthy muscle metabolism, but it may also encourage small blood vessel growth within muscle. Healthy blood circulation to the muscles supports nutrient intake by muscle cells, reducing fatigue and could also support muscle performance. Both of these effects would also support healthy muscle recovery and L Arginine supplements could support more optimal protein synthesis. Elevated L Arginine levels also promote growth hormone production, which would stimulate muscle growth.
Studies also show that increased L Arginine levels cause an increase in body oxygen uptake. This would also assist with physical performance. L Arginine supplementation could also have benefits to athletes through reduced oxidative stress levels from exercise. Converse increases in antioxidant levels are thought to occur.
Regular exercisers or athletes could potentially reap these benefits from a L Arginine supplement.
Trials With L Arginine For Exercise Performance
One study found that L Arginine supplements, 2 grams a day, may improve athletic performance. Findings from other studies suggest that L Arginine could reduce adipose or fat tissue mass, increase skeletal muscle mass and improve muscle strength, proving crucial nutritional support for athletes.
L Arginine induced nitric oxide signalling has been shown to stimulate angiogenesis, collagen deposition and cell growth. All of these activities assist with improving muscle tissue mass and wound recovery, which would assist with muscle growth and damage recovery. Collagen is particularly important for connective tissue production and wound healing.
Other studies have also shown that L Arginine supplements improve blood volume, which would support athletes with more nutrients. L Arginine supplements have also been shown to have the potential to reduce waist circumference promoting a more athletic looking body.
These studies support potential health benefits to a L Arginine supplement for competitive athletes.
L Arginine Supplements And Nitric Oxide
Studies suggest that L Arginine has an influence on blood nitric oxide levels. This also has the potential to influence your metabolism during exercise, providing potential health benefits. L Arginine makes nitric oxide in the body and its production directly depends on the amount of free L Arginine, with the other major product being citrulline. Nitric oxide is thought to be beneficial for vascular health. This is because it is produced by blood vessels which triggers blood vessel dilation in the body.
Dilation, or blood vessel opening, can reduce overall blood pressure and improve blood flow throughout the body. This effect is particularly useful during heavy exercise when your whole body requires more nutrients. Higher blood flow to tissues provides essential recovery support and could have benefits for regular exercisers.
Nitric oxide release in the blood stream has been shown to lower blood pressure. This is thought to be beneficial in the reduction of atherosclerosis, or internal blood vessel damage and plaque build-up, which is a leading cause of many blood related disorders. This includes strokes and heart attacks.
Higher animal studies have shown that L Arginine is able to reduce plaque formation, while L Arginine supplements were shown to significantly lower blood pressure just like nitric oxide. In addition to restoring regular nitric oxide production, L Arginine supplements have been shown to reduce the release of superoxide radicals into the blood stream. While the supplementation of L Arginine with an antioxidant reduced overall vascular oxidative stress. This preserved blood vessel endothelial functioning and had potential heart or circulatory health benefits.
For these reasons, a L Arginine supplement may have potential benefits for those at risk of heart and circulatory diseases.
L Arginine And Fertility
Research has found that taking a L Arginine supplement may have benefits for optimal sperm production and therefore fertility. One study found that an arginine deficiency reduced sperm counts by up to 90% after 9 days of restriction. The number of non-motile sperm were also increased. Conversely, L Arginine supplementation increased sperm counts after 6 weeks.
In addition, where individuals were experiencing erectile dysfunction, L Arginine was shown to assist with more optimal responses. There is a possibility that L Arginine may stimulate nitric oxide blood vessel dilation, which in turn improves blood flow. This has the potential to aid sexual performance.
L Arginine And Immunity
One major issue that some elite athletes get is a susceptibility to infectious diseases, resulting from intense exercise, that is caused by a mildly immunocompromising drop in antibody production.
There are many reasons why exercise may cause a drop in antibody levels and immunity. Amino acids like L Arginine could help athletes to produce more immune cells, including macrophages, while L Arginine may also support antibody production. L Arginine was shown to enhance neutrophilic phagocytosis by S. aureus. While L Arginine may also control immune T cell functioning and production of T cells. This activity could have implications for cancer prevention, while L Arginine could reduce inflammatory responses that aid immune cell wound healing. Burn injuries are susceptible to infection and taking a L Arginine supplement has been shown to have benefits for helping burn injuries to recover.
L Arginine levels are also related to nitric oxide levels in the blood. There is evidence that when the nitric oxide system is active that an antiviral and antibacterial effect follows initially in the blood. This would also be another means as to how taking a L Arginine supplement may have benefits to athletes and support the immune system.
L Arginine And Insulin
Diabetes sufferers can experience reduced levels of arginine and supplementation with L arginine may improve insulin sensitivity. L Arginine may help to encourage gluconeogenesis too, in adipose cell, while it has been observed to reduce triglyceride levels. These reduce inflammatory induced risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
L Arginine was shown by one study to help with resensitising tissues to insulin in sufferers of type 2 diabetes. Specifically, L Arginine is thought to be able to strongly stimulate insulin secretion from ฮฒ-cells in the islets of Langerhans within the pancreas. This is where diabetic pathologies, such as insulin resistance manifest.
18 month supplementation studies with L Arginine showed that it may improve insulin sensitivity, pancreaticย ฮฒ-cell function and reverse glucose intolerance in some patients. The blood vessel health promoting aspects of L Arginine may have benefits for suffers of diabetes. These studies show that L Arginine supplements could have potential benefits for reducing complications that occur with diabetes.
While this alone is quite an astounding potential benefit, overall, L Arginine supplementation seems to have many potential health effects within the body. This results from its influences on growth hormone and nitric oxide signalling. These cell fate pathways then have potential effects on muscle growth, fertility and immunity.
Summary
L Arginine is an amino acid and supplements may have some very strong benefits. L Arginine is a crucial building block of our body proteins and may be of particular benefit for those wanting to make muscle gains. This amino acid supports healthy muscle metabolism and may promote small blood vessel growth with muscles.
A healthy circulatory system optimises muscle performance through improved nutrient supply. L Arginine supplements may support more optimal protein synthesis, while promoting growth hormone production, to stimulate muscle growth. L Arginine also maximises oxygen uptake, assist with physical performance, while it could influence body antioxidant levels by reducing free radicals.
Various clinical studies show that L Arginine can improve athletic performance, muscle strength, reduce fat accumulation, initiate blood vessel growth, collagen deposition, wound healing and blood volume.
L Arginine may influence blood nitric oxide levels which could be beneficial for your circulatory system. Nitric oxide signalling causes blood vessels to dilate, reducing blood pressure and improving blood flow. This could reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases resulting from plaque formation in blood vessels.
One study found that an arginine deficiency reduced sperm counts by up to 90% after 9 days. This means that L Arginine supplements may have benefits for optimal sperm production and fertility. L Arginine may positively influence erectile function.
A L Arginine supplement may support the immune system, through improved immune cell counts. L Arginine was shown by one study to regulate insulin release. While it could have positive influences on risks of developing diabetes.
There seem to be various potential benefits to L Arginine supplements, these may result from its influences on nitric oxide levels, protein synthesis and growth hormone production.
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