List of substances that help with nitric oxide

[kushami]

Can anyone point me to a list of substances that help with nitric oxide in the body?

Edited to add: Sorry for being vague: I meant things that help increase it.

 

[Wayne]

Can anyone point me to a list of substances that help with nitric oxide in the body?

Hi @kushami -- I just did a quick query on Perplexity (AI website) and came up with the following:

Do foods have nitric oxide, or do certain foods raise nitric oxide levels in the body? What foods do that?​

Sources
Top 10 Nitric Oxide Foods to Boost Your Brain and Body - Ora Organic


ora
·
1
Foods That Boost Nitric Oxide Levels | The Well by Northwell


thewell.northwell
·
2
How to Increase Nitric Oxide Naturally: 5 Ways - Healthline

healthline
·
3

Answer
Based on the search results provided, the key points are:Certain foods do not contain nitric oxide directly, but they can help boost the body's production and absorption of nitric oxide. The main ways these foods do this are:

1. Providing nitrates, which the body can convert into nitric oxide. Foods high in nitrates include leafy greens, beets, rhubarb, and citrus fruits.1245
2. Containing antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and polyphenols, which help stabilize and preserve nitric oxide in the body.3
3. Providing amino acids like L-arginine and L-citrulline, which the body uses to produce nitric oxide.3

The top foods that can help increase nitric oxide levels in the body include:

• Leafy greens (e.g. spinach, kale, arugula)
• Beets
• Citrus fruits (e.g. oranges, lemons, limes)
• Garlic
• Dark chocolate
• Red wine
• Watermelon
• Spirulina
• Rhubarb

So in summary, these foods do not contain nitric oxide directly, but they provide the building blocks and support for the body to naturally produce and maintain healthy nitric oxide levels.12345

 

[Faith2007]

The book From Fatigued to Fantastic! 3rd ed. on ME/CFS by Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, an internist and former medical director of the Fibromyalgia Fatigue Centers, says that B12 can help with too high levels of nitric oxide, if that's what you are talking about. I'm also reading about this in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: a Treatment Guide 2nd ed. by Erica F. Verrillo, which isn't a new book either. But those books seem to be indicating that oral supplementation isn't sufficient. The first book is recommending B-12 shots, and the other referenced an article I read that recommended a nasal spray form of B-12.

I also found a couple of articles mentioning methylene blue for the inhibition of nitric oxide, here is one of them: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4664049/ But there can definitely be side effects with that supplement.

I don't have a list for you though.

Best wishes in finding something that works for you.

 

[kushami]

@Faith2007 , sorry for my vague wording. I need to increase, not decrease. But I am sure your post will be helpful to other people.

 

[kushami]

@Wayne , thank you.

 

[Wishful]

Nitroglycerine! Blow your NO levels sky-high! If I'd known someone who had a prescription for that, I'd have asked for a pill just to see whether it had any effect on my ME. Didn't seem worth asking my doctor for a prescription just to try one pill.

Citrulline and arginine are suggested as supplements too.

 

[kushami]

@Wishful , I currently have a specialist who would probably give me that – he’s not a very good doctor in some ways!

I would probably be too scared to try it. Maybe someone will chime in who was prescribed it for angina.

Thank you for the citrulline and arginine suggestions.

 

[Wishful]

As I remember it, the body converts citrulline and arginine back and forth as needed. I suppose that depending on the individual, one might be more effective than the other. For testing citrulline, enjoying some watermelon might be a more pleasant way to test it than pills or powder. That's what I did (no effect; more messy than pills though).

I don't know whether those amino acids actually boost NO levels in the body. I think they're just raw materials for reactions that produce NO. Checking the wiki, it seems that citrulline is produced when arginine is used to produce NO, so it's the arginine that is important for production. A deficiency might reduce NO production, but an excess might not produce more; that's determined by production of NO-synthase.

If I wanted to raise my NO levels, I think I'd try nitroglycerine; just a piece of a tablet at first. Actually, I'd try doing more in-depth research into that and NO production first.

 

[andyguitar]

Exposure to cold increases NO levels. It's called "Cold induced vasodilation". So something like a cold shower or even just putting your feet in cold water. Wise to do it carefully though as it might be a bit of a shock to the system.

 

[kushami]

@andyguitar , that’s interesting. I wonder how long the effect would last. Will have a read on it!

 

[Forummember9922]

My current attempt to create a pump, which since CFS is hard work, is higher doses Arginine, then Tadalafil, and Ubiquinol with PQQ

 

[Wishful]

Exposure to cold increases NO levels. It's called "Cold induced vasodilation".

A quick check showed that CIVD is generally limited to extremities (fingers, ears, etc). The page I checked said that NO might be involved. From that I think it's unlikely that a cold shower would increase general NO levels.

 

[kangaSue]

Food-wise, leafy greens, beets, and ferments of.
https://thedigestersdilemma.com/truth-nitrates/
https://thedigestersdilemma.com/beet-kvass/

A problem can arise with utilising nitric oxide (NO) though that may lay somewhere else, such as a deficiency in tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) which is a cofactor for NO synthase and occurs in a few different chronic health conditions. Just more food for thought.