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Arginine nitrate

What is arginine nitrate?

Argininenitrate represents a further evolutionary step in the development of ingredients designed to increase pump and blood flow by boosting nitric oxide production. From a chemical point of view, arginine nit rate is a compound of the amino acid L-arginine and nitric acid, which breaks down into an arginine molecule and a nitrate molecule (NO3) after absorption in the body. Arginine nitrate thus combines the active ingredients arginine and nitrate, which can increase the body's own nitric oxide production via two different, independent physiological pathways, in a single molecule. This molecule therefore has the combined effect of both arginine and nitrate, making it one of the most effective agents available on the market for increasing nitric oxide levels.

How does arginine nitrate work?

In order to better understand the effects of arginine nitrate, it is necessary to know the mode of action of the two ingredients combined in this molecule, arginine and nitrate:

Arginine and the L-Arginine - Nitric Oxide Synthase - Nitric Oxide Pathway

Arginine, which is available in the form of L-arginine, arginine alpha-ketoglutarate (arginine AKK) and other variants, is the first active ingredient used in supplements to increase nitric oxide production. Arginine can increase nitric oxide production by increasing the production of the enzyme called endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS for short), which is responsible for the production of nitric oxide in the endothelial cells in the innermost layer of the blood vessels. At the same time, arginine serves as a starting product (substrate), which is required by this enzyme (eNOS) for the production of nitric oxide. This pathway of nitric oxide production is also referred to as the L-arginine - nitric oxide synthase - nitric oxide (or L-Arg-NOS-NO) pathway.

Nitrate and the nitrate - nitrite - nitric oxide (or NO3--NO2--NO) pathway

It was only discovered a few years ago that nitrates can also serve as a precursor for nitric oxide production in the body. For this purpose, a previously unknown pathway for nitric oxide production in the human body is used, known as the nitrate--nitrite--nitric oxide (or NO3--NO2--NO) pathway. In this pathway, dietary nitrate (NO3) is reduced to nitrite (NO2) by splitting off an oxygen atom, which is then converted to nitric oxide (NO) by splitting off another oxygen atom.

There are a number of interesting studies that show the effectiveness of nitrate supplementation and the resulting nitric oxide production in increasing physical performance and training performance (2 - 9). Of particular interest to strength athletes and bodybuilders is the fact that some studies have also explicitly shown that nitrate allows strength production to be maintained for longer (3, 10), which in other words means that you can perform more repetitions per training set to stimulate greater muscle growth. It's worth noting that most of the studies cited are conclusive human studies and not animal studies. The interesting thing about the nitrate - nitrite - nitric oxide pathway is that it can continue to produce nitric oxide effectively even in situations where the L-arginine - nitric oxide synthase - nitric oxide pathway is significantly impaired. Such situations include, for example, a lack of oxygen and a strong over-acidification of the tissue, which occur in particular during high-intensity training with weights. This advantage of the nitrate - nitrite - nitric oxide pathway is based on the fact that it can produce nitric oxide via both enzymatic and non-enzymatic processes (11 - 14). Since the nitrate - nitrite - nitric oxide (NO3--NO2--NO) pathway and the L-arginine - nitric oxide synthase - nitric oxide (L-Arg-NOS-NO) pathway utilize completely independent and different mechanisms and substrates to produce nitric oxide, they cannot interfere with each other, which means that their effects are 100% additive. In other words, both pathways can run simultaneously at their maximum level, resulting in maximum nitric oxide production.

In addition to this, the use of different pathways ensures that nitric oxide levels remain significantly elevated regardless of the type of training and the internal environment of the body, allowing you to continue to reap all the benefits of elevated nitric oxide levels.

What are the benefits of arginine nitrate?

The benefits of arginine nitrate supplementation are based more or less entirely on the increased nitric oxide production in the human body caused by this compound. For this reason, it is first necessary to know what nitric oxide is and what effects it has. Nitric oxide is a gas with the molecular formula NO, which consists of a nitrogen atom and an oxygen atom and is therefore also known as nitrogen monoxide. This gas is produced by the cells of the innermost layer of the blood vessels, also known as endothelial cells, and acts as a messenger substance in the human body, triggering certain reactions in the target tissue. As far as the blood vessels are concerned, an increase in the concentration of nitric oxide causes the smooth muscle tissue in the walls of the blood vessels to relax, which results in the veins widening. This dilation increases the internal diameter of the veins, allowing more blood to flow through the veins with less resistance, resulting in better blood flow to the body's tissues. One of the effects of increased blood flow due to higher nitric oxide levels is a noticeably stronger pump during exercise. However, the feeling of a better pump, even if many exercisers love this feeling, is only a secondary aspect. Much more interesting is the fact that increased blood flow and the associated temporary increase in muscle volume stretches the fascia - a tightly interwoven network of hard, fibrous tissue that wraps tightly and firmly around the muscles and maintains their structural integrity. The fascia limits the space available for the muscle to grow and repeated stretching of the fascia has been shown to promote muscle growth (1). However, the main benefit of improved blood flow is that a greater amount of blood reaching the muscles also means that more oxygen, more nutrients and more anabolic hormones are transported to the muscles, while at the same time toxic metabolites that are produced during intense muscular effort and that can impair muscle performance can be removed more quickly. During training, an increased supply of oxygen and nutrients means that the muscles are better supplied with what they need to function optimally, resulting in higher performance and a later onset of fatigue during a training set. The simultaneous faster removal of toxic metabolic products also contributes to longer-lasting performance. Between the individual training sets, the same mechanisms accelerate the short-term recovery of the muscles so that they reach their maximum performance capacity more quickly for the next training set. After training, the optimized supply of oxygen, amino acids, glucose and anabolic hormones to the muscles during the critical post-workout anabolic window, based on improved blood flow, results in faster muscle recovery. In summary, by increasing nitric oxide production, arginine nitrate enables more intensive training sets with more repetitions, more intensive training sets within a shorter period of time and better and faster regeneration after training, in addition to an increase in the pump and the anabolic effect of stretching the fascia. As a result, more frequent and more intense training sessions within a given period of time can generate a stronger stimulus for muscle growth, which will ultimately result in more muscle mass.

References

  1. Antonio J and Gonyea W.J. (1993) J Appl Physiol, 75: 1263-1271.
  2. Larsen FJ, et al. Effects of dietary nitrate on oxygen cost during exercise. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2007 Sep;191(1):59-66
  3. Bailey SJ, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation enhances muscle contractile efficiency during knee-extensor exercise in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2010 Jul;109(1):135-148
  4. Larsen FJ, et al. Dietary nitrate reduces maximal oxygen consumption while maintaining work performance in maximal exercise. Free Radic Biol Med. 2010 Jan 15;48(2):342-347
  5. Bailey SJ, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans. J Apply Physiol. 2009 Oct;107(4):1144-1155
  6. Webb AJ, et al. Acute blood pressure lowering, vasoprotective, and antiplatelet properties of dietary nitrate via bioconversion to nitrite. Hypertension. 2008 Mar;51(3):784-790
  7. Vanhatalo A, et al. Acute and chronic effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on blood pressure and the physiological responses to moderate-intensity and incremental exercise. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2010 Oct;299(4):R1121-R1131
  8. Lansley KE, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of walking and running: a placebo-controlled study. J Apply Physiol. 2010. Published Ahead of Print.
  9. Dejam A, et al. Effects of dietary nitrate on blood pressure. N Engl J Med. 2007 Apr 12;356(15):1590
  10. Hernandez A, Schiffer TA, Ivarsson N, et al. Dietary nitrate increases tetanic [Ca2+]I and contractile force in mouse fast-twitch muscle. J Physiol. 2012 July 9. E-published ahead of print.
  11. Weitzberg E, Hezel M, Lundberg JO. Nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway: implications for anesthesiology and intensive care. Anesthesiology. 2010 Dec;113(6):1460-1475
  12. Lundberg JO & Weitzberg E. NO generation from inorganic nitrate and nitrite: Role in physiology, nutrition and therapeutics. Arch Pharm Res. 2009 Aug;32(8):1119-1126
  13. Lundberg JO, Weitzberg E, Gladwin MT. The nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway in physiology and therapeutics. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2008 Feb;7(2):156-167
  14. NO generation from nitrite and its role in vascular control. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005 May;25(5):915-922