Amino Acid Supplement has Benefits in Heart Failure
(NY, Reuters Health, 7/25/06

Dr. Stephane Doutreleau of Institut de Physiologie, Strasbourg, France, and team assigned 10 heart failure patients to take the amino acid, L-arginine, for 6 weeks. The investigators gave these patients, as well as a control group, an endurance exercise test before and after the six-week period and found that L-arginine takers exhibited a significant decrease in average heart rate during and after exercise with no significant changes to blood pressure and respiration. The researchers explain that this amino acid is a precursor to nitric oxide, which facilitates blood circulation by causing the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate. They speculate that, by enhancing blood flow, L-arginine can increase the exercise capacity and stamina of cardiac patients.

(International Journal of Sports Medicine July 2006)