Nitric Oxide and Health

Nitric oxide and health are closely related. Low   levels can cause endothelial dysfunction setting you up for sexual impotence, heart attacks, high blood pressure, and stroke. The right diet can help prevent these problems.

What Is Nitric Oxide

Nitric oxide,  called NO for short, exists as a gas in your body, and allows the endothelium (the lining of your arteries) to function properly, constricting and dilating your blood vessels as needed. This is how your blood flow is regulated.

You can see why this chemical is so critical. It is made in the endothelium from the amino acid l-arginine and typically declines with age and certain medical conditions. Proper NO levels are critical to your health and the quality of your life.

Are My Levels Ok? How Do I Know?

Detecting low NO levels is based on symptoms. Since nitric oxide and health are so strongly linked, we look for symptoms of disease to identify low levels of this chemical in the body.

One huge red flag would be erectile dysfunction, also called impotence. In fact the main effect of the drug Viagra is to raise NO oxide levels in the body, thereby allowing normal erectile response.

So if you are a man and are having trouble getting erections, it may well be that your levels of NO are low. The same endothelial dysfunction that causes heart disease can also result in erectile dysfunction.

Although there is no quick and easy way to measure NO levels, doctors can measure it indirectly by using ultrasound scans to measure the diameter of your arteries.

Thickening of artery walls can indicate developing cardiovascular disease caused by the lack of NO in your endothelial lining.

There is a new device called a CVProfilor that may soon be used to measure the elasticity of your arteries. This will give an indication of how your endothelium is functioning.

How to Boost Your Levels

You can raise your levels of this important chemical by doing three things:

• Getting regular exercise
• Eating properly
• Using Nitric Oxide Supplements

An effective NO diet would be one that would supply the nutrients your body needs to make this essential chemical from l-arginine. This requires plenty of protein assimilated from the right foods.

Here is a short list:

• Nuts, beans and seeds (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, cashews, flax seeds)
• Garlic, onions
• Cold water fish (salmon, mackeral, sardines, tuna, shrimp)
• Eggs
• Chicken, especially giblets
• Noni juice

Any foods containing high levels of the amino acid l-arginine will help your body make enough NO. A diet containing high levels of l-arginine will provide the raw material (precursor) for nitric oxide to be produced in your endothelium.

Low levels of NO can result in impotence, otherwise known as “erectile dysfunction.”

Nitric Oxide Supplements

The problem with NO supplements is that they don’t really contain nitric oxide! It is a gas and could not be held in stable form in a supplement designed to sit on a store shelf.