Like a thief, high blood pressure strikes unseen with silence and stealth. By the time you realize you've been robbed of your health, the damage is already done. Untreated hypertension can lead to congestive heat failure, kidney disease, atherosclerosis, loss of vision, heart attacks, stroke and erectile dysfunction. The amino acid L-arginine may help treat high blood pressure and reduce the damage it causes. Talk with your physician before you take an arginine supplement to treat your blood pressure.
How Arginine Works
You can pump more water faster and at lower pressure through a wide pipe than you can through a narrow one. Arginine lowers blood pressure indirectly by increasing diameter of the pipes -- your blood vessels. Your body coverts arginine into nitric oxide in the tissue within blood vessels. Nitric oxide causes blood vessels to dilate and relax, which in turn leads to a drop in blood pressure.
Research
If arginine's conversion to nitric oxide is somehow blocked or interfered with, blood pressure will rise. Researchers of a 1998 study published in the "Journal of Hypertension" gave some subjects a compound that blocked the enzyme that converts arginine to nitric oxide. The researchers found the blocker resulted in an increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A "Journal of Hypertension" study published in 2008 looked at how blocking the enzyme that breaks down and helps eliminate arginine effects blood pressure in rats. The researcher found the resulting increase in arginine increased nitric oxide levels and lowered rat blood pressure.
Arginine Supplements
Whatever the source, extra arginine can help lower your blood pressure. In a 2006 study published in "Alternative Medicine Review," 29 healthy subjects were given a sustained-release arginine supplement twice a day for one week. Within a week, 62 percent of the subjects saw their diastolic pressure reduced by 3.9 points. The systolic pressure decreased as well -- especially in subjects with initial borderline or high pressure readings. In another study, published in the "American Journal of Hypertension" in 2000, researchers found that adding arginine from foods or dietary supplements lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Warnings
Arginine is a natural ingredient found in the foods you eat. For most people, arginine supplements are safe to take, but if you are taking other high blood pressure medicines, have recently had a heart attack, are scheduled for surgery or have the herpes virus, you should avoid arginine. Arginine will add to the blood pressure lowering effects of some blood pressure or heart medications, and may cause light-headedness, dizziness or even fainting. Ask your doctor before taking supplements if you are taking other medicines.
References
- "American Journal of Hypertension"; Blood Pressure and Metabolic Changes During Dietary ... ; A. Siani; May 2000
- "Journal of Nutrition"; L-Arginine and Hypertension; Noyan Gokce; October 2004
- American Heart Association: Why Blood Pressure Matters
- "Journal of Hypertension"; Treatment With the Arginase Inhibitor ... ; Bagnos; June 2008.
