Does Nitric Oxide (NO) Supplements work?

Andreas Dietzel | Thu February 17, 2011  

I do want to hear the response!

I don’t manage this site, I have no idea what went wrong…but if you tried to post via your bb, that might be the issue…

...or you’re just making an excuse, because you don’t really have a response…

Andreas Dietzel | Thu February 17, 2011  

Here’s the explanation of the effect you’re experiencing…in a nice video format :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRVCaA5o18

Andrew Kupchik | Mon February 28, 2011  

This argument has grown old and stale!  You continue to site unconfirmed,non pier reviewed studies, you continue to ignore other benfits like increased growth hormone production, and further ignore the fact that you, yourself admit that at higher doses their are results.  Why would you simply assume that the dose would have to be messured in mg, and not in grams ?  Also, why would claim no results in your conclusion, but in the earlier part of your own article state “In healthy individuals infusion of very high doses of arginine (3-4 times higher than oral dosage) has shown to increase NO and blood flow though”  Claiming it has no effect and then contradicting yourself, makes for a most humorous read.  No one said how you had to take it.  By deductive reasoning, if high dose infusions of it yielded benefits, then making very high dose oral or other routes of administration would simply have similar results.  The substance either does or does not do something. 

Please do not send me unsourced studies as I can do the same.  I can also send a few sourced ones, one from JAMA, again your own study showed a benefit…

GAME - SET - MATCH Drew

dr | Mon March 07, 2011  

Anoop, if I wanted to take some beet root juice pre-WO, what would be a good dose based on the studies you mentioned?

Dr | Tue March 08, 2011  

I would love to…but it is just waaaaay too pricey, about 5 dollars per 500 mL which would put me in at about 100 dollars a month.  I’m just going to start making a homemade pre-workout with some stimulants, creatine, etc.  If you write up something about beet root juice be sure to reply on this comment thread so I can get the update in my email.  Thanks!

Sucker | Thu March 10, 2011  

Excellent Casual browsing yields a thread where people look for peer reviewed articles on workout sups.

It’s so hard to cut through the hype that saturates the internet on most sups. Frown at me now, cause I just brought NO Explode, and I am feeling a little foolish!

I brought this product after I saw my GP to confirm that I had tendon damage in my right forarm. He told me that the healing rate would be slow owing to tendons not getting a great deal of blood flow. Less blood flow = slower healing rate. My reasoning was to purchase a NO sup to increase blood flow to the tendons thereby speeding up the healing process.

I liked the beetroot alternative you gave to the other user, so after detailing exactly why this wont work (haha) could you rustle up some advice for me and my arm also? Cheers

Tiago Rezende Figueira | Fri March 11, 2011  

Hello Anoop,

It is exciting to see how many points the readers arise about your fitness related articles!
As a researcher in the field of exercise and metabolism I would like to place a comment on commons conclusions (mis)taken from scientific data. Example: given that “A” is an important factor for muscle hypertrophy, and now someone has shown that the intervention “B” stimulates “A”, one concludes that “B” leads to muscle hypertrophy. To give a real example, it is widely known that nitric oxide is vasodilator molecule and can increase blood flow under certain physiological/pathological conditions; “the deductive person” will probable think: if I can increase nitric oxide I will increase blood flow and the delivery of nutrients and oxygen, therefore bursting performance/muscle growth. Wrong! For short, the only thing that matters is how your dependent variable is (in this case performance/muscle mass) affected by your intervention (for example, supplementation of a nutrient). Whether vasodilatation, increased blood flow, anabolic hormones, or peripheral nutrient uptake went up or down, it does not matter. People should not pick up that insulin, GH or testosterone are increased by a “treatment” and conclude that this “treatment” leads to hypertrophy

Jason | Thu April 28, 2011  

Anoop,

I’m so happy to have come across this site. It amazes me to read all this information on your site and have it based on real data from studies, helping me to make my own decisions about how to undergo my training and make important decisions on what to buy and use.

I thought about using this product for awhile too, glad I know better!

Questions, I need some good pre workout stims to get me energized, but don’t really like how caffeine gives me headaches over the long haul. You mentioned something previously about some type of adrenaline pre-cursor, where can I get this, and is it affordable and safe?

Ryu | Mon June 06, 2011  

Anoop,

I am 19 and currently a college student with a major of APK Fitness/Wellness. I work out daily and I am constantly looking for new supplements to increase my performance and health. Your article and feedback have been incredibly helpful and educational to me even though it only fills a page of a website. The more you explain how pre-workout supplements work the more I realize how bogus these supplement companies claims are, and realize that what most people are really feeling in their workout is stimulants such as caffeine, taurine, etc. I recently started taking a pre-workout called Oxy-elite pro from USP labs, and it has worked wonders for me. I feel heavy stimulant effects from it similar to a prescription drug like adderall or vyvanse. I vaguely looked up the ingredients on the nutrition label and didn’t find out much so I would like to know if this supplement could have adverse side-effects on my health. I have read up a little on the effects of amphetamines on the body and what I have read doesn’t look very bright…I am extremely glad that I stumbled upon your article, if you could give me feedback on how to follow you and your future articles through this website or twitter or something, it would be greatly appreciated.

Mike | Wed August 10, 2011  

Usually these types of pages start off sounding skeptical, only to end up singing the praises of the supplement, then linking to a “Buy Me!” page, affiliate code included. I was very pleased to see the simple TRUTH, that NO is a waste in healthy individuals, and I commend you for politely handling these lemmings who insist that they saw miraculous results from snake oil (they’re likely employees of the companies that make this stuff).

There’s no magic bullet people.

Joe | Thu August 18, 2011  

I have a doctoral degree in pharmacology and believe that I have some evidence supporting the claim that nitric oxide supplementation does indeed lead to overall increased muscle production.  In a study by Durante, W. it was concluded that increased levels of extracellular l-arginine result in increased levels of growth-stimulatory polyamines, an essential precursor in cellular metabolism. Although this study examines l-arginine as a precursor to cardiovascular smooth muscle remodeling, the conclusion can be interpreted to support the overall catabolic claims that NO supplements often make.

Transforming Growth Factor-ß1 Stimulates L-Arginine Transport and Metabolism in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells
Role in Polyamine and Collagen Synthesis
William Durante, PhD; Lan Liao, MS; Sylvia V. Reyna, BS; Kelly J. Peyton, MA; Andrew I. Schafer, MD

Ty | Fri October 14, 2011  

I can’t believe that people will still try and defend NO Scams.  Good on you for having the courage to speak the truth.  Hopefully some reading this will save their hard-earned money and not bother buying this rubbish.  Truth be told, most commercial supplements don’t work but the NO products are an outrageous scam.  I wrote about this 2 years ago and got flamed, but I suspect most of them are working for the supplement companies.

Rob | Fri October 21, 2011  

I think I have to agree with Anoop on this, that NO supplements don’t increase blood flow in healthy individuals.  Even if they did, how can this help to give you permanent gains anyway.  I was about to buy a product called nitric blast x (i included a link) which makes this exact claim.  Thanks for the advice.

Rob

Herb | Thu October 27, 2011  

Arginine is the key ingredient in all N.O. products. It causes more blood flow, and in turn you’ll get greater PUMPS.

The challenge with Arginine is that the body excretes rather quickly. So, the difference in N.O. products is how measured the release of arginine is, and how long can you experience the effect.

I think Nitrix, NO2 and various other products are pretty good.

A cool side effect is that N.O. products increase the blood flow everywhere, and it will improve your skin tone and facial complexion.

andrew kupchik | Thu October 27, 2011  

I am absolutely astonished that this debate still goes on.  To answer one person who stated that homeopathic remedies sell therefore this is the reason no xplode sells simply a placebo effect and hype .  Yes for some time things like echinecea (sorry spelling wrong)  sell and sell well but then there is a sharp drop .  Sales of that stuff have plummeted from where they were before while no xplode has showed a sustained need for the product.  Those who don’t know anything and just get a recommendation to take it do so with really no placebo effect.  Matter of fact if u gave me a power and I knew none of the ingredients I would argue that I would be looking to disprove not prove its efficacy.  People now a days research everything read your nonsense and I am sure what you consider my nonsense .  A million other threads are out there that have the same argument so placebo effect is a wash .... They go take it and say let’s see which off those idiots is right ... Then they go back to working with out it when it runs out and they say , dam I m not getting the quality workout . 

Obviously its not testosterone or winstrall .... It’s not going to make u the f ING hulk .... Did does however per your own study show at high doses to increase blood flow and oxygen flow and.obviously nutrient flow, and.toxin removal not even previously mentioned .  U claim infusion of arginine to be the only way , well what do u think will happen if if u take enough to raise blood levels to the range u attained with the infusions. 

Does ur body say , o this came from the outside via a needle or does it simply do the same thing it did at high concentrations .  It doesn’t know where it came from..  and that is only ur study refuiting its efficacy, I have mounds of evidence and really the best thing about the proof is its continued use.  Creatine sells still because it works other things ,.so so so many have gone by the way
Side .

Explain why one stays and one totally fades .... It’s about the workout u getbwith one verse without. BTW there are probably 15 or more similar products all selling boat loads also and of course the l Arginine it self has been always a hot seller especially in connection with l glutimine .  Of course I respect your right to be wrong , I have been in the past but one thing you have forgot to mention is your knowledge and background in pharmacology , biology , or really any other science that might give u a clue what the hell really goes on.  I have a bachelors degree from the university of Pittsburgh in Biology (pre med) , masters degree from university of mn , in psychopharmaceutical minor from u of pitt in chemistry having worked through organic chem 1 and 2 and analytical chem as well .  Do u have any type of credentials that make u telling people.what works and what does not a really good idea ?  If u do state it but by the way u like to argue , u would have blasted that in blog1 post .  I remained low key to make this point.  When getting info online consider the source .  Now because I have those credentials does not make me right, but who would u trust if u had to take this to save ur life.  Unless ur secretly A doctor (and many of them know nothing of drugs , especially supplements past what their pharm rep tells them and supplements don’t get drug rep time with doctors that’s on them.  If ur have a pharmacy degree ok we are both then again breaking even but really u lack the knowledge of how some of these supplements activate neural pathways , increase or decrease the amount of neurotransmitters that present in the synaptic cleft ... I can’t even get into all those benefits and the resulting physiological modifications and upgrading that take place .... Cortisol changes .... On and on .... I am also am NASM TRAINER AND HAVE PLACE., WITH THEIR AGREEMENT ONE GROUP ON AND ONE GROUP OFF THOSE SUPPLEMENTS.  STUDY SIZE WAS MODEST AT 36 IN ONE GROUP and 41 in another .  The results are as follows on no xplode , clients gained 2.3 lbs more lean muscle over six months then did the control group and lost a modest but still significant 12.3%  greater loss in total body fat we used calapers for measuring body fat and electronic impedance as well with that showing a greater 16.7 % great fat loss verse control .... That in six months .  Now come on placebo ? Did I work them harder ? Lol did I make.them eat more at home or ruin their carrion workouts when they ran at home .  Pretty much all things were fair and equal because people were simply elected by random selection 2nd letter of last name being in the first half the alphabet one group and group two the opposite .  I can devote another minute to this but I keep getting an email telling there are more posts despite changing the site setting . Take ARGININE ALL THE WAY to the bank .

Dana | Thu February 09, 2012  

As for NO supplements working, or not working….They WORK. Is it specifically Nitric Oxide, or something else in their propietary blends? I’m not sure. If your research leads you to believe it isn’t Nitric Oxide, who am I to argue?

I will say however, between me, and three other friends I personally know, combined with the experience of another dozen people I’ve followed via their writings or posts online, No-Xplode works. Again, this could be due to other factors…..but its very silly to say it doesn’t work. I can say for sure, it is NOT simply placebo effect…...you could do a blind study and notice the same thing.

I base my experience , as anyone who takes the hobby of weight lifting seriously, on my recorded gains. For the past 3 years, I’ve done MUCH lifting both on and off…...and not ONCE have I ever noticed anywhere close to the increase in muscle mass or gains as I did while taking NO-Xplode.

NurseMcDonald | Tue February 21, 2012  

Good work my friend. It is hard to watch people part with their money and potentially harm their bodies. As an anesthetist, athlete and critical reader, a few more thoughts:

Sildenafil (Viagra) works of NO transport as well, I’m curious why all the blokes taking this stuff (NO-Xplode, etc…) aren’t walking around the gym with a crazy erection? Not enough blood to go around? Doubt it!

It is still no wonder why the average size of the running back is going up and the life-span is going down…Cheers, Mate!

Sarah | Tue May 15, 2012  

Another great review without the usual BS.. thanks Anoop!

Justin | Mon May 21, 2012  

Dear Anoop,
   
  Hey man I was wondering if you could answer this question for me. I decided I would try out BSN Nitrixs tablets and after about two weeks I got results lol but not exactly what I was expecting. My girlfriend and I both had noticed how much thicker and harder my erections were and it seemed like it would take me forever to get off but I swear I wasnt even hoping for nothing like that to happen lol. So can you please explain this to me.

Sam | Thu December 27, 2012  

Dr. Bill Davis of the Heart Scan Blog used to recommend L-Arginine for heart care, but now has only equivicol support for it:
http://blog.trackyourplaque.com/2007/04/how-important-is-l-arginine.html

I will say from personal experience that if I take it consistently for a few weeks I do notice some mild, but noticable viagra-like side effects.