L-Arginine & Tongue Burns

Your body uses proteins and their component parts known as amino acids to build a healthy immune system. From repairing damaged tissues to growing immune cells, your body needs amino acids to stay healthy. When you experience something such as a tongue burn, you may wish to take amino acids such as l-arginine to minimize injury and speed healing. However, no one in the science community has made a definitive link between l-arginine and burn healing.

L-Arginine’s Roles

Found most commonly in foods that contain protein, l-arginine’s chief functions are to increase blood flow in the body. Because it makes blood vessels naturally widen, it is thought to be helpful for patients who have experienced congestive heart failure and whose blood pressure may be very high due to blood vessel constriction. However, l-arginine also has been thought to speed wound healing because of its ability to open the blood vessels and bring nutrients and oxygen to your skin. You can apply l-arginine in topical form, take it as a supplement or consume it naturally in foods. However, the topical form may be difficult to maintain on your tongue burn if the burn is located at an area often cleansed with saliva.

Treating Burns

MayoClinic.com ranks l-arginine a “C” grade on an A through F scale in terms of its evidence-based ability to improve burns, such as tongue burns. This is due more to a lack of conclusive evidence that l-arginine helps burns. According to MayoClinic.com, l-arginine “may” help to improve immune system response and function in burn patients.

Nitric Oxide Pathway

In a review article on the role of nutrition in the management of burns, published in the 2009 “South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” researchers claimed l-arginine is beneficial in treating burns because of its affect on the nitric oxide pathway. Researchers consider l-arginine a precursor to nitric oxide, which can be beneficial on burns because it encourages blood flow and oxygen to damaged areas. However, nitric oxide production can be uncontrolled when a person experiences a burn. By taking an l-arginine supplement, the authors found the body can better control the nitric oxide pathway, which could enhance your healing.

Dosages

One of the problems with eating or taking l-arginine for tongue burns is there is no established beneficial dosage. One recommendation is taking 200 to 400 milligrams per day per kilogram of your bodyweight, according to the “South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition.” To calculate this amount, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2, then multiply by 200 or up to 400 to obtain the number of milligrams you could take. However, a definitive recommendation for dosage and timing in the treatment of injuries such as tongue burns has not been made.