Question

what are alternate sources of nitric oxide and their advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 1

The two most common nitric oxide supplements available are:

• L-arginine is a protein building block or an amino acid that is naturally found in dairy products, red meat, fish, and poultry.
• L-citrulline is a protein building block or an amino acid that is naturally found in nuts, meat, watermelon, legumes.

Thus, the amino acids L-citrulline and L-arginine are the alternate source and help to produce nitric oxide in the body.

The advantages of nitric oxide supplements are:

• Enhancing exercise and recovery.
• Improves heart health.
• Reducing erectile dysfunction.
• Reducing high blood pressure in pregnancy.
• Improving recovery after major trauma or injury.
• Enhancing weight loss.
• Improving lung function in those with cystic fibrosis.
• Treating altitude sickness.
• Preventing the common cold.
• Healing diabetic foot ulcers.
• Reducing the side effects of memory loss

The disadvantages of nitric oxide supplements are:

• It can cause diarrhea, headache, heart palpitations, nausea, stomach pain, bloating, or heartburn,
• People suffering from liver scarring or cirrhosis should take nitric oxide carefully as it could worsen liver function.
• It can cause a deficiency of guanidinoacetate methyltransferase. It is a rare genetic disease in which a person lacks guanidinoacetate methyltransferase enzyme that converts arginine into creatine. Thus, people with this deficiency should not intake nitric oxide supplements.
• A person with low blood pressure should not take nitric oxide supplements because its intake can further lower the blood pressure.