If you're reading this blog post, then you're probably somewhat aware about the importance of nitric oxide. This might lead you to wonder about what goes into making the best nitric oxide-boosting supplements. Clean ingredients and proper formulating are good places to start. First, let's review some nitric oxide basics.
What is nitric oxide?
Many people are just beginning to learn about the importance of nitric oxide, although it was discovered to have an essential function in the human body more than twenty years ago.
Nitric oxide is not an ingredient but rather a compound that is activated in our body. It is often referred to as a key messenger molecule that supports healthy blood flow and circulation. Healthy blood flow is also important for overall vitality, skin health, and nutrient absorption.
Additional benefits of N-O:
- Wound healing
- Anti-aging
- Increased energy production
- Enhanced memory
- Oxygen flow
- Increased blood flow to organs
Taking center stage in more than 160,000 studies and claiming the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1998, nitric oxide (N-O) is a chemical compound consisting of one nitrogen (N) atom and one oxygen (O) atom. Nitric oxide serves as a secondary neurotransmitter between the brain and nerve cells within the body and also doubles as a vasodilator (widening of the artery walls) in the circulatory system.
How do I obtain or generate nitric oxide?
Good news: The body produces nitric oxide naturally.
Bad news: Nitric oxide production declines as we age.
Our bodies generate nitric oxide in three ways:
- Plant-based diet. The easiest and best way to increase nitric oxide production is through a healthy nitrate-rich plant-based eating plan. Foods entering the GI tract are naturally converted into nitric oxide during the digestion process.
- Exercise. Physical exercise is the most potent stimulator of Nitric Oxide production and is considered one of the top strategies for supporting overall cardiovascular health.
- Supplementation. An enzyme known as nitric oxide synthase (NOS) synthesizes N-O by combining oxygen with the amino acid L-arginine, Our proprietary formulation does this better than anyone else in the world.
Why is nitric oxide so critical for our body?
Without it, we can’t live. In fact, the loss of nitric oxide has been linked to cardiovascular health and has been called the greatest discovery in cardiovascular medicine.
N-O signals our blood vessels to relax, helping to dilate the arteries and increase circulation. It is essential to our very existence. And while it’s abundant in our body’s systems, it’s unstable and depletes, requiring it to be replenished.
Nitric Oxide and the Body
Our cardiovascular system relies on nitric oxide. So, no matter your age or stage of life, N-O is critical to your health. This is poignant when you consider a sizable percentage of American adults have unhealthy blood pressure.
This essential molecule signals our blood vessels to relax and expand, creating greater efficiency in the body, greater nutrient delivery, greater oxygenation and so on to every system, organ, and tissue in the body. It also supports healthy blood pressure. The point is that N-O is truly linked to everything we do and every breath we take.
If we dive even deeper, we’ll see that nitric oxide is tied closely to endothelial function. The endothelium is the tissue that forms a single layer of cells lining our blood vessels and heart.
Growing evidence suggests that promoting optimal endothelial function is associated with increased cardiovascular health. N-O helps keep the endothelium healthy; a healthy endothelium helps produce more N-O. Maintaining the proper functioning of this cycle is important for those who want to achieve their personal best at any age.
What happens when nitric oxide levels drop?
Age: We already know our bodies change as we age. This is true for nitric oxide levels in the body, as well. By the time we reach the age of 40, studies have shown that we only produce about half or less of the nitric oxide we did at age 20. And it continues to decline as we age.
There’s also a difference when it comes to gender:
- By age 40, men produce about 50% of the N-O they did in their teens and 20s.
- By age 50, women only produce about 35% of what they did in their 20s.
Yet, our ability to produce and generate N-O within the body is a key element of a healthy body. This means having an effective strategy to maintain optimal levels is critical because it affects how every cell in our body communicates with each other.
Diet: A diet rich in green, leafy vegetables is known to be cardio-healthy. For decades, nutritionists and scientists thought these effects came from the antioxidants found in those foods. Now we know that it’s due to the dietary nitrates found in green, leafy vegetables and beets. Nitrates are metabolized into nitric oxide in the human body by oral nitrate-reducing bacteria. If we don’t consume enough high-nitrate vegetables, then we become N-O deficient, and our N-O levels begin to fall.
Exercise: Physical exercise is the most potent stimulator of nitric oxide production and is considered one of the top strategies for supporting overall cardiovascular health. However, when we don’t exercise, we lose that important signal that tells our body to make more N-O. As a result, the enzyme that makes N-O in response to exercise becomes dysfunctional.
This usually leads to N-O insufficiency. Just as in the aging process, the problem lies in the inability to utilize the amino acid L-arginine to make nitric oxide. The good news, however, is that once we begin to exercise, we may regain the functionality of that enzyme and begin to stimulate more N-O production.
You ask a lot of your body: Replenish nitric oxide every day
Unfortunately, in today’s world of refined foods these options may not be enough, especially for those over the age of 40. That’s where functional and nutritional supplementation come into play. Professional athletes and body builders have known about the “secret” of L-citrulline and L-arginine benefits for decades: these compounds boost the immune system, in particular for heart, and blood vessel health leading to improved work outs and endurance.
Nitric oxide-boosting supplements can help!
There are plenty of choices available from sports supplement companies and a variety of nutraceutical brands. It is good to have options, because one size doesn’t necessarily fit all. Each of us have unique preferences. We suggest reading the ingredients in the dietary supplement formulation and conducting your own research on the nitric oxide supplements you're considering.
Many brands focus on just a few key ingredients. Be careful of unnecessary synthetic ingredients, binders, fillers, additives, or preservatives. There is more than one way to produce nitric oxide, so it makes sense that there are different variations with dietary supplements.
Since we at Ultimate Beauty Health focus on natural, indigenous-sourced, non-GMOs, and gluten-free ingredients, our proprietary formulation includes but is not limited to including L-citrulline and L-arginine.
Rejuvenation 40+, the new 2022 version of our consumer line's nitric oxide boosting dietary supplement, and Nitric Oxide Rejuvenation, our professional/wholesale version, help support the body’s ability in the absorption of essential nutrients, each targeted for a specific purpose for beauty and health.
Ultimate Beauty Recovery (consumer) and TruBeauty Science Recovery Pro (wholesale/professional), our collagen supplement with natural folate as 5-MTHF, support the collagen synthesis process for skin, wound healing, and connective tissue — with an abundance of B12 for eye health support.
Both our Rejuvenation and Recovery product lines are non-toxic, gluten-free, are non-GMO, and are proudly produced with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and in an NSF-certified laboratory.
The discovery of nitric oxide is what Ultimate Beauty and TruBeauty Science is built on. We aspire to bring knowledge and understanding of the importance of nitric oxide support into the world.
In addition to shopping our products, we invite you to learn more about nutricosmetics, folate and collagen, the science of nitric oxide, and how it works. Read up on our clean ingredients and follow us on our blog. You can also contact us at customercare@ultimatebeautyhealth.com. We’re here to help and bring you health and vitality from the inside out!
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Key Sources:
There are thousands of studies and papers written about nitric oxide on https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ This is a major source of information.
“Getting to Know N-O” The Nitric Oxide Revolution by Dr. Howard Peiper. He is one of the first to publish a quick read on the benefits of N-O.