Approximate dose-response bands. Individual response varies — these are starting points, not prescriptions.
Well below target. Risk of deficiency symptoms tied to nitric oxide.
Below the recommended daily target. Long-term adequacy not assured.
Daily target met. Standard nutritional support for nitric oxide.
Common for specific health goals. Check the evidence for your situation before sustaining this level.
Past the point where extra intake typically helps. Evidence for further benefit is thin.
You're at 0% of your l-arginine target. The biggest single-serving sources to top it off:
Conditionally essential amino acid, precursor to nitric oxide (NO) via NO synthase, and to creatine, urea, and polyamines. Adequate endogenous synthesis in healthy adults; conditional essentiality in trauma, burns, and certain disease states.
Endothelial NO synthase converts L-arginine + O2 to L-citrulline + NO. NO diffuses into vascular smooth muscle, activates guanylate cyclase, raises cGMP, and triggers vasodilation. Pharmacologic effect is limited because arginase competes for arginine; this is why citrulline (which bypasses gut arginase first-pass) often outperforms arginine for NO support.
Frank deficiency is rare in adults. Conditional deficiency in trauma, sepsis, burns, and inherited urea cycle defects.
Well-tolerated to ~9 g/day. GI distress is the typical limit. Post-MI use of high-dose arginine in one trial (VINTAGE-MI) increased mortality — caution in recent CV events.
L-arginine HCl or arginine alpha-ketoglutarate at 3–6 g/day. For NO support in healthy adults, citrulline often outperforms arginine on a per-gram basis. Don't combine with PDE-5 inhibitors (Viagra, Cialis) without medical supervision — additive hypotension.
~70% oral absorption but ~40% is degraded by intestinal arginase before reaching circulation. Citrulline bypasses this first-pass and is converted to arginine renally — a more reliable plasma arginine route at most doses.
NO signalling supports endothelial function — vascular health is central to healthspan. Adequate arginine intake from food is typically sufficient; supplementation has small CV benefits in some populations but no clean longevity signal.
Nitric oxide precursor; vasodilation, blood flow. Common dose 3–6 g/day.
The mechanisms and systems this nutrient feeds. Click any to drill into what runs on it.