The amino acid L arginine seems to reduce blood pressure and other heart disease risk factors. The finding, reported in the current issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation , may help explain why overweight people and some diabetics are at high risk of the disease.
The body converts L arginine to nitric oxide, a potent chemical that helps regulate blood pressure. Probe this link further, Dario Giugliano and his colleagues at the University of Naples in Italy infused L arginine in 10 healthy volunteers and kept track of several risk factors for cardiovascular disease: the pressure blood, blood viscosity, and agglutination of platelets - the cells that form blood clots. The researchers found that the three risk factors improved between 10% and 20% in response to the amino acid, and heart rate of the subjects and blood circulation in the legs increases. When the researchers repeated the experiment, but blocked the production of subjects of insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar levels L beneficial effects were -arginine halved. When they infused insulin and amino acid, the effects have been restored.
The study is the first to show that insulin improves L The effects of arginine in people, Giugliano said, and may help explain why diabetics are overweight - who often have defective insulin receptors - are also at risk for cardiovascular disease. But all researchers are not convinced of the link. "They show an interesting phenomenon," says Michael Quon, who studies the relationship between insulin, nitric oxide, and L -arginine the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. "But the effect is small."
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