7 replies to this topic

[Dattman]

I saw something about it boosting effects of exogenous GH and IGF, i just havent found it and been able to find it, anyone heard this?

[redspy]

Arginine
Paolo Colombani, PhD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology


* Arginine is a conditionally essential amino acid with a natural constituent of proteins.
* It is used as a growth hormone releaser.
* While arginine improves several catabolic states in patients, most research studies have failed to demonstrate an ergogenic effect in healthy people.
* The safety of large doses of arginine (several grams daily) has not been investigated in healthy men.
* Arginine use is legal and not prohibited by the International Olympic Committee.
* Arginine supplementation is not recommended, since potential ergogenic effects are not scientifically corroborated and negative effects of large doses can not be excluded in healthy men.

Name
Arginine (Arginine hydrochloride.)

Description
The amino acid arginine is a natural constituent of both animal and plant proteins. Like the other protein-derived amino acids, it is almost not present in free form in the regular food chain. Arginine is non-essential (dispensable) in healthy people, which means that the body can synthesize enough for its regular needs. However, the endogenous synthesis might not be sufficient under certain catabolic states such as in burn patients. Therefore, arginine should be classified as a conditionally essential (conditionally indispensable) amino acid (1). Arginine supplements are often marketed as single free amino acids (alone or together with free ornithine and/or free lysine) or as a dipeptide (often with aspartate or glutamate as a second amino acid).

Usage
The reason why arginine is used as a potential ergogenic is its effect on the hormonal system. Insulin and human growth hormone (STH) release are enhanced after stimulation with non-physiologically large doses of arginine (2;3). Therefore, arginine supplements are claimed to exert anabolic effects and consequently increase muscle mass.

Prevalence
Prevalence and incidence statistics are unknown.

Chemical Mechanism
The influence on hormone release is only one of several effects attributed to arginine or its metabolites. Besides the "classical function" of an amino acid as a substrate for protein synthesis, arginine also serves as a substrate for the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), which acts as a signal transducer and endogenous vasodilator (1). An interesting effect of NO in relation to exercise physiology is its capacity to increase the exercise-mediated glucose uptake (4). Other important metabolic functions of arginine include: serving as a substrate for the synthesis of urea; the end-product of protein catabolism; delivering nitrogen for creatine synthesis; promoting synthesis of polyamines, which have important functions in tissue growth and repair; and formation of arginyl-tRNA, which is required for protein degradation (1).

Clinical Evidence
The efficacy of arginine in clinical nutrition is well established. Positive effects such as improved wound healing and immune response are to be expected in many subsets of patients. However, evidence is lacking for the support that this effect could be extrapolated to healthy people.

Scientific Research
The ergogenic potential of arginine in healthy people was investigated in several studies and most of them could not find improvements in performance or increases in muscle mass. Importantly, exercise-induced increases in STH level were either reported to be further elevated (5) or diminished (6) as a consequence of supplementation with arginine salts. This is compatible with the observation that the increase in STH level after oral arginine intake appears to be strongly variable. However, the arginine content of marketed supplements is probably too low to expect a significant STH increase (7). No data are available about a NO-mediated influence of the glucose uptake during exercise as a consequence of arginine supplementation, but the NO synthesis at rest and during exercise appears not to be substrate-dependent (8).

Administration
Arginine is sold in the form of tablets, which mostly contain less than one gram of the active substance.

Dosage
Arginine is not classified as an essential amino acid and therefore no official reference value for its intake exists. Supplements are marketed with a recommended arginine intake of 0.5 to 1.0 gram daily. Such an amount is probably not harmful, but it will neither significantly influence the hormonal secretion (7). Although in clinical studies pharmacological doses up to 30 grams were used, their effect in healthy people is not fully elucidated and potential negative effects of, for example, a NO overload can be excluded. In diabetic patients doses of about two grams daily doubled the blood levels of interleukin 1 alpha, which is related to a potential increase in collagen breakdown (9). In healthy athletes, a two-week long supplementation with about 7g arginine (and 7g aspartate) caused a reduction of the total plasma amino acid level in spite of an increase in the arginine level (5). Such amino acid imbalances were reported to decrease weight gain and depress food intake in farm animals (10). As long as the potential side effects of doses in the range of several grams have not been investigated in healthy humans, arginine (or other free amino acid) supplements can not be regarded as absolutely safe.

Contraindications
Arginine supplementations might exert negative effects in diabetics and those suffering from renal diseases.


References

1. Beaumier, L., Castillo, L., Yu, Y.M., Ajami, A.M., and Young, V.R. Arginine: new and exciting developments for an "old" amino acid. Biomed Environ Sci 1996; 9(2-3):296-315.
2. Karam, J.H. Pancreatic hormones and diabetes mellitus. In: Greenspan FS, Strewler GJ, editors. Basic and Clinical Endocrinology. London: Prentice-Hall International, 1997: 595-663.
3. Sutton, J.and Lazarus, L. Growth hormone in exercise: comparison of physiological and pharmacological stimuli. J Appl Physiol 1976; 41(4):523-527.
4. Roberts, C.K., Barnard, R.J., Scheck, S.H., and Balon, T.W. Exercise-stimulated glucose transport in skeletal muscle is nitric oxide dependent. Am J Physiol 1997; 273(1 Pt 1):E220-E225.
5. Colombani, P.C., Bitzi, R., Frey, R.P., Frey, W., Arnold, M., Langhans, W., et al. Chronic arginine aspartate supplementation in runners reduces total plasma amino acid level at rest and during a marathon run. Eur J Nutr 1999; 38(6):263-270.
6. Eto, B., Le Moel, G., Porquet, D., and Peres, G. Glutamate-arginine salts and hormonal responses to exercise. Arch Physiol Biochem 1995; 103(2):160-164.
7. Wagenmakers, A.J. Amino acid supplements to improve athletic performance. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 1999; 2(6):539-544.
8. Brett, S.E., Cockcroft, J.R., Mant, T.G., Ritter, J.M., Chowienczyk, P.J. Haemodynamic effects of inhibition of nitric oxide synthase and of L-arginine at rest and during exercise. J Hypertens 1998; 16(4):429-435.
9. Hayde, M., Vierhapper, H., Lubec, B., Popow, C., Weninger, M., Xi, Z. et al. Low-dose dietary L-arginine increases plasma interleukin 1 alpha but not interleukin 1 beta in patients with diabetes mellitus. Cytokine 1994; 6(1):79-82.
10. Harper, A.E. Amino acid toxicities and imbalances. In: Munro HN, Allison JB, editors. Mammalian protein metabolism (Volume II). New York: Academic Press, 1964: 87-134.


Degree of Confidence
1.0

About the Author
Dr. Paolo Colombani is a post doctoral research assistant at the Nutrition Biology group of the Swiss Federal Insti-tute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. He is responsible for human nutrition research (postprandial metabolism, nutrition for endurance sports) and is a lecturer in human nutrition.
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[Thinkbig]

I POSTED An article about this here 2 years ago...lol

[Dattman]

post it again, i wasnt here 2 years ago lol, im interested as im running both IGF and HGH right now, how much should i take, should i try that arginine ethyl ester?

[VIP FRIEND]

Is this good or bad?
Someone must know more,,,TB if you can find the article that would be great. I'll also try to pull up old post.

Running the same thing here Datt.
BUT
The way i read it is that it might throw your body into overload running hgh and igf with the Arginine BUT i could be wrong.
Just think arthritus symptoms like a mofo.

[redspy]

Here's another study:-

CLICK --->Use of amino acids as growth hormone-releasing agents by athletes

If you can't be bother to wade through 5 pages of the PDF here's the summary:-

SUMMARY
The practice of consuming specific amino acids, in particular
arginine, lysine, and ornithine, to increase GH levels during or
after exercise does not appear to be effective. Infusion of specific
amino acids3–5 or consumption of large doses of specific amino
acids can increase GH concentrations.12 The GH response to
amino acid consumption is highly variable1 and reduced with
aging13 and in exercise-trained individuals.12 The GH response
also is lower in males than in females3 and lower in individuals
consuming diets high in protein.11 Further, exercise is a potent
stimulus for GH release, and oral supplementation of amino acids
has not been shown to augment the exercise-induced GH increase.
7,36 The physiologic significance of the exercise-induced
elevation in GH levels is not clear, and studies need to examine the
effect of exercise and amino acid supplementation on IGF-1 levels.
Moreover, there is no sound scientific evidence that supplementation
with arginine, ornithine, or lysine is effective in altering body
composition in athletes. The primary side effects of consumption
of large quantities of amino acids are stomach cramping and
diarrhea.12 The use of specific amino acids for the purpose of
stimulating GH release to promote greater gains in muscle mass
and strength and to alter body composition is not recommended.

[Dattman]

TB can u post that article u were talking about?