Nitric Oxide As a Supplement: What to Know

Reducing Blood Pressure

There’s evidence when you have high blood pressure, it may be due to problems with how you use nitric oxide.

High blood pressure is when the force of blood pushes against the walls of your arteries at a rate that’s too high. Over time uncontrolled high blood pressure can raise the risk of kidney and heart disease.

• Nitrate is a compound found in beetroot. Nitrate is also in dark leafy greens such as spinach.
• You can take nitrate as a supplement in different ways. For example, you can use a beetroot supplement.
• Studies show nitric oxide production is boosted by nitrates which can then help lower blood pressure.

Flavonoid extracts are another way you can lower blood pressure. Flavonoids are antioxidants in most fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids can increase nitric oxide production and decrease the breakdown, so you have higher available levels overall.

Management of Type 2 Diabetes

If you have type 2 diabetes, it can impair your nitric oxide production. Impaired production of nitric oxide can then lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and kidney disease over time. Taking a supplement for nitric oxide can help with the treatment of diabetes and the prevention of the disorder.

For example, in a study of people with type 2 diabetes, taking L-arginine improved nitric oxide production.

The increase in nitric oxide also improved insulin sensitivity for better control of blood sugar.

A separate study found L-arginine had positive effects for preventing or delaying the progression of type 2 diabetes.

Other Possible Benefits

Other health benefits of nitric oxide as a supplement include:

• Improved weight loss
• Better lung function in people with cystic fibrosis
• Treatment of altitude sickness
• Improvements in recovery after injury or trauma
• Preventing the common cold
• Helping heal diabetic foot ulcers
• Reducing memory loss side effects

How Do You Take Nitric Oxide As a Supplement?

As we’ve talked about, there isn’t a nitric oxide supplement you can take. Instead, you can take certain supplements that help your body raise its own production of nitric oxide. We cover some of these options below to get nitric oxide as a supplement, at least as far as helping your body make more of it.

L-Citrulline Supplements

L-citrulline is an amino acid our body makes.

• We covert L-citrulline to L-arginine.
• L-arginine is another type of amino acid.
• L-arginine improves blood flow through a boost in nitric oxide creation. 

As we talked about, nitric oxide helps dilate your blood vessels. Due to the ability of L-arginine to help widen blood vessels, it can be helpful for people with clogged arteries or heart disease.

These same blood vessel effects help improve symptoms of erectile dysfunction. The L-citrulline creates a path to create more blood flow to your genitals if you’re a man. In one particular study, the increased blood flow seems to decrease mild symptoms of ED and improve maintaining an erection.

There are some food sources of L-citrulline like legumes, meat, and nuts, but most people use supplements to increase their levels.

There isn’t a lot of research on doses of L-citrulline in terms of nitric oxide as a supplement, but anywhere from two to 15 grams seems to be well-tolerated.

L-citrulline is likely the best nitric oxide supplement for ED, and it’s also thought to be safe, at least for short periods of time. Some men prefer not to use prescription ED medications because of side effects, so they use L-citrulline instead.

L-Arginine Supplements

L-arginine is another amino acid that can be useful when we talk about nitric oxide as a supplement. L-arginine is naturally found in poultry, red meat, fish, and dairy. L-arginine is needed for circulation and to make proteins.

In the body, L-arginine is converted to make nitric oxide. L-arginine also stimulates the release of insulin and growth hormone.

Benefits of L-arginine and reasons it’s used as a supplement include:

• L-arginine helps with chest pain and blood flow issues
• It’s beneficial for erectile dysfunction
• As a supplement, it may help with high blood pressure during pregnancy

For erectile dysfunction, taking 2-2.5 grams of L-arginine per day seems to help improve sexual function.

For high blood pressure, you might take a similar dose. As a supplement, L-arginine is considered safe. You could experience mild side effects like abdominal pain or bloating, but they seem to be rare.

You should be careful about using L-arginine if you’ve had a recent heart attack or you have allergies or asthma. There’s also some evidence you should avoid it if you have genital herpes or cold sores because it can trigger the virus causing them.

Beetroot

Beetroot supplements like Super Beets are growing in popularity. Beetroot supplements are made from beets dehydrated into crystals and then potentially turned into powder. Beets are a natural source of nitrates. Your body converts nitrates into nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide then helps reduce your blood pressure and can have the benefits cited above.

The idea of a beetroot supplement is to get the benefits of beets but in a more convenient and perhaps palatable way. If you can manage it, drinking fresh beet juice seems to be the better option.

• For example, in one small study, adults who drank five ounces of beetroot juice had significantly lower blood pressure three hours later than participants who didn’t have any nitrates.
• A 2017 review that looked at 43 randomized studies found supplementing with beetroot juice was associated with significantly lower blood pressure, including diastolic and systolic.
• Other benefits of beetroot include protecting against or reducing the growth of cancer. For example, in an animal study, rats consuming water with beetroot had a 45% reduction in the development of esophageal cancer.
• Beetroot juice may improve athletic performance because it improves blood flow and reduces the amount of oxygen you need when exercising.
• Beets may also improve heart health and reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease. 

Pine Bark Extract

Pine bark extract is also a way to use nitric oxide as a supplement. Pine bark extract comes from the French Marine pine tree. One ingredient, pycnogenol, may help improve skin disorders and inflammatory conditions.

There’s also some research showing it can help with cardiovascular health and erectile dysfunction.

Do Nitric Oxide Supplements Have Side Effects?

Since there isn’t one particular nitric oxide, we can’t say whether they broadly have side effects or not.

The supplements we named above, including the amino acids and the beetroot supplements, tend to have a good safety profile. There aren’t any significant side effects associated with these nitric oxide supplements. Still, you should always talk to your doctor before taking any new supplement.

Other Ways to Boost Nitric Oxide Production

Along with indirectly taking nitric oxide as a supplement, you can eat certain things that will positively affect your nitric oxide production.

• Eat vegetables high in nitrates. These can include celery, lettuce, beetroot, spinach, and arugula. When your body consumes nitrates, they’re turned into nitric oxide. Research shows eating nitrate-rich vegetables can decrease your blood pressure as much as prescription medications.
• Antioxidants help limit your breakdown of nitric oxide. Specific antioxidants that can help naturally raise nitric oxide levels include vitamin E, vitamin C, polyphenols, and glutathione.
• Nitric oxide as a supplement can help your exercise performance, and exercise can also improve your nitric oxide levels. When you exercise, it enhances something called your endothelial function. Your endothelium is a thin cellular layer lining your blood vessels. These cells produce nitric oxide. When you don’t produce enough nitric oxide, it can cause endothelium dysfunction. Endothelium dysfunction can put you at risk of heart disease. Exercise helps your body’s natural ability to produce nitric oxide and keeps your blood vessels healthy.

Nitric Oxide As a Supplement—Final Thoughts

While you can’t directly take nitric oxide as a supplement, there are things you can take and also add to your diet to increase your levels. Increasing your nitric oxide levels can help with erectile dysfunction and can also lower blood pressure and improve exercise performance.

Nitric oxide as a supplement can include taking individual amino acids like L-citrulline or L-arginine. You can also take beetroot or opt for a supplement with a combination of ingredients geared toward boosting nitric oxide.