The issue of side effects and a safe dosage of l-arginine intake

In one of his interviews, Dr Predergast from his experience in treating thousands of patients, 75% of which were Diabetics, stated that in some patients  taking larger amounts of Arginine daily, some cases of diarrhea were reported. However this seemed to be only temporal and usually disappeared within a couple of days. He also recommended the daily dosage intake of 4 scoops of Argi 9 Plus (each scoop is 1.6g) in the first week going down to three the next week and then down to 2 scoops a day for at least 90 days.

The issue of side effects and a safe dosage of l-arginine intake has been observed in some medical papers. The following extract from Alternative Medicine Review is an example.

Side Effects and Toxicity
Significant adverse effects have not been observed with arginine supplementation. People with renal failure or hepatic disease may be unable to appropriately metabolize and excrete supplemental l-arginine and should be closely monitored when taking arginine supplements.

Dosage
Doses of arginine used in clinical research have varied considerably – from as little as 500 mg/day for oligospermia to as much as 30 g/day for cancer, preeclampsia and premature uterine contractions. Typical daily doses fall into either the 1-3 g or the 7-15 g range, depending on the condition being treated. Because of the pharmacokinetics of l-arginine, use of a sustained-release preparation may be preferable, in order to keep blood levels more constant over time.

Warnings and Contraindications
It has been postulated, on the basis of older in vitro data1 and anecdotal reporting, that arginine supplementation might be contraindicated in persons with herpes infections (i.e., cold sores, genital herpes). The assumption is that arginine might stimulate replication of the virus and/or provoke an outbreak; however, this caution has not been validated by controlled clinical trials. Bronchoconstriction is reportedly inhibited by the formation of NO in the airways of asthmatic patients, and a bronchoprotective effect of NO in asthma has been proposed.2 Airway obstruction in asthma might be associated with endogenous NO deficiency caused by limited availability of arginine which is NO synthase substrate (a synthase is an enzyme that catalyses a synthesis process *) . However, oral arginine (50 mg/kg body weight) in asthmatic patients triggered by a histamine challenge produced only a marginal, statistically insignificant improvement of airway hyper-responsiveness to histamine.3 In fact, it is unclear whether NO acts as a protective or a stimulatory factor in airway hyper-responsiveness. Since polyamines act as growth factors for cancers, and arginine may stimulate polyamine synthesis, chronic administration of arginine in cancer patients should probably be avoided until information arises regarding the safety of this practice.

1.Tankersley RW. Amino acid requirements of herpes simplex virus in human cells. J Bacteriol 1964;87:609-613.
2.Ricciardolo FL, Geppetti P, Mistretta A, et al. Randomised double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effect of inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in bradykinin-induced asthma. Lancet 1996;348:374-377.
3.de Gouw HW, Verbruggen MB, Twiss IM, Sterk PJ. Effect of oral L-arginine on airway hyperresponsiveness to histamine in asthma. Thorax  1999;54:1033-1035.

* definition is added by www.cardiohealthresearch.com

The Role of Xylitol in ProArgi-9 Plus Formula

L-arginine can stimulate the pancreas1 to release a hormone called glucagon. Glucagon comes to the rescue when blood sugar levels are too low. Glucagon makes the liver convert stored sugar to useable sugar that is released into the bloodstream. Using L-arginine along with xylitol2 can keep L-arginine from stimulating the pancreas to release glucagon.

1. Pancreas  is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as an exocrine gland, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that pass to the small intestine.
2. A naturally occurring sugar substitute, extracted from birch bark and widely used in diabetes products. Xylitol is roughly as sweet as sucrose but with only two-thirds of sucrose’s calories rate.

Leave a Reply