AMINO ACIDS Part 2

ARGININE: Immune booster

If this book had been written a decade ago, this section would only be a paragraph or two long. That was before researchers discovered that arginine regulates an amazing blood compound called nitric oxide, the compound responsible for regulating blood flow, immune function, communication among nerve cells, liver function, blood clotting and even sexual arousal. That’s why, in 1992, boron won Science magazine’s prestigious designation ‘Molecule of the Year”.

Don’t confuse nitric oxide with nitrous oxide, otherwise known as laughing gas, the anesthetic that I dentist might pump into you before extracting a tooth. Nitric oxide, chemically written NO and also referred to as ‘endothelium-derived relaxation factor’, is a key player in allowing blood vessels to relax and thereby controlling high blood pressure. Until the discovery of the arginine connection, science was unable to harness this substance. Now a mere nutrient, a simple supplement that’s found on the shelf at any health food store, gives us the means through which we can better manage myriad cellular processes.

As with iron, however, arginine supplementation isn’t as uncomplicated and innocuous as swallowing a handful of pills. Like so much in nutritional medicine, prescribing it, whether to manufacture nitric oxide or to take advantage of its other rewards, involves finding the right balance in the blood. While a nitric oxide deficiency carries definite risks, so, too, does a surfeit. Despite all its benefits, the compound is a free radical, which is capable of inflicting oxidative damage. Ideally, doctors of the future will analyze nitric oxide levels in blood serum to determine whether you need more of this body chemical. If so, your arginine supplements should be accompanied by a broad spectrum of antioxidant protection, including coenzyme Q10 and lipoic acid, which will neutralize the potential harm.

CARDIOLOGY’S MIGHTIEST AMINO

Of the many ways in which arginine can improve heart health, almost all have been revealed only in the last few years. Even nutritionally oriented doctors may not yet be accustomed to prescribing the amino acid for heart problems and other condi-tions, but they should. Here’s why:

– Arginine itself (not the nitric oxide it produces) decreases cholesterol more effectively than any other amino acid.

– Daily doses of 6-17 grams a day have lowered LDL cholesterol without reducing the beneficial HDL cholesterol, and it did so without producing side effects.

– It also promotes healthy coronary microcirculation in people with high cholesterol, and it deters the formation of blood clots, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes.

The NO that is created by arginine is capable of much more.

• By relaxing arteries, thus permitting better blood flow, it can improve such circulation-related conditions as coronary heart disease with angina, intermittent claudication (poor leg circulation), and high blood pressure.
• Disorders of brain circulation also may be helped. Arginine-induced vasodilation is detectable even in younger men, who typically don’t suffer from impaired circulation, and injections of the amino acid can strengthen the cardiac muscle in people with congestive heart failure.
• In Japan and in Greece, cardiology teams are infusing the nutrient directly into the coronary blood vessels of angina patients and dramatically reopening their circulation.
• Israeli heart doctors are improving the performance of the hearts of patients with congestive heart failure by administering 20 grams of arginine by vein over one hour’s time.