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Say Yes to NO
The following is an excerpt from Medicine Net on how nitric oxide "improves blood flow and oxygen supply to your tissues."
What is nitric oxide?
Nitric oxide, abbreviated as NO, is a chemical compound that plays a key role in cell metabolism. It is also crucial in coordinating tissue energy demand with supply.
The body naturally produces nitric oxide as a free radical. It is the end product of a conversion process of dietary nitrates and vitamin C. One of nitric oxide’s prominent functions is to relax your blood vessels, which improves blood flow and oxygen supply to your tissues. This widening of the blood vessels is also vital in lowering blood pressure.
How to increase nitric oxide in your body?
Although Nitric Oxide production occurs naturally in the body, you can boost your levels by eating certain foods. Some of the foods that can increase nitric oxide levels in your body include:
Beets. Beets contain high levels of nitrates which can boost the production of nitric oxide in your body.
Poultry. Poultry is a great source of a coenzyme that is important in the preservation of nitric oxide in your body.
Garlic. Garlic increases the levels of enzymes involved in the synthesis of nitric oxide.
Leafy greens. Leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale are loaded with nitrates that are converted to nitric oxide.
Citrus fruits. This category of fruits, including lemons and oranges, plays an important role in nitric oxide production. They contain high levels of vitamin C, which increases levels of enzymes crucial to nitric oxide formation.
Nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds are rich in amino acids, which play a part in the production of nitric oxide.
Cocoa. Cocoa contains flavanols which are compounds that significantly boost nitric oxide levels in your body.
Symptoms of low nitric oxide
Deficiency of nitric oxide is common, especially in advanced age. This is caused by your body’s inability to naturally produce nitric oxide as you age. There are a couple of nitric oxide deficiency symptoms worth your attention.
Depression. Low levels of nitric oxide affect blood circulation causing high blood pressure and may lead to chronic PTSD. Nitric oxide helps reduce depression and stress by reducing inflammation.
Poor vision. The fluid in your eyes, located in the frontal part, regulates whether intraocular pressure increases or decreases. The proper flow of this fluid is determined by the nitric oxide that carries it. If this fluid does not drain properly from your eye, pressure builds up, causing weaker vision.
Fatigue. Nitric oxide decreased levels may cause chronic fatigue. Low nitric oxide levels can decrease your body’s natural energy at the cellular level. This is a result of reduced circulation, reducing the delivery of oxygen and nutrients that your body needs.
Hypertension. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator that controls your blood pressure levels. Nitric oxide regulates blood pressure preventing cardiac problems such as stroke and heart attacks.
Memory loss. Brain diseases such as dementia are caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. Low blood pressure resulting from decreased levels of nitric oxide may cause cognitive decline.
https://www.medicinenet.com/what_does_nitric_oxide_do_to_your_body/article.htm
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From the UK on how Nitric Oxide activates the cells of the immune system
and helps to protect against viruses:
Role of Nitric Oxide in Biology
Since it was first discovered to play a role in the dilation of blood vessels many new roles for Nitric Oxide (NO) have been discovered. Nitric oxide has been found to be produced by virtually every cell type in the body and plays an important role in controlling the normal function of cells as well as in regulating larger scale processes such as the nervous and immune systems. Some of these biological roles for NO are described in more detail below.
The Immune System
Nitric oxide plays many important roles in the immune system. It is produced in high amounts from specialised cells of the immune system called macrophages. Following a bacterial infection, for example, the body produces chemicals known as cytokines which activate the cells of the immune system, including macrophages, and help guide them to the site of infection.
The high amounts of nitric oxide produced by the macrophages is actually toxic to the bacteria and plays an important role in their destruction (see image on the right). The production of nitric oxide in this way also help protect against other types of infection including viruses and parasites.
https://www.reading.ac.uk/nitricoxide/intro/no/biol.htm#:~:text=The%20Immune%20System&text=The%20high%20amounts%20of%20nitric,infection%20including%20viruses%20and%20parasites.
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2 ReactionsBelow is an excerpt from an article on a study in Italy that showed “chronic fatigue of the post-Covid syndrome is precisely associated with an alteration in the metabolism of arginine” and that “in patients with long Covid there is an alteration of the metabolism of arginine, which stimulates nitric oxide, a key enzyme for proper immune and vascular function.”
The mechanism that leads to chronic fatigue in Long Covid patients has been discovered, according to new Italian research.
“The mechanism of action that leads to the state of fatigue, or disabling exhaustion, linked to Long Covid which affects 1 in 3 people who are victims of the Sars-CoV-2 infection has been discovered: it is triggered by a deficit of arginine, an amino acid naturally produced by the body.
This is demonstrated by a study on long Covid conducted by the Agostino Gemelli IRCCS University Polyclinic Foundation – Catholic University Campus of Rome, according to which the chronic fatigue of the post-Covid syndrome is precisely associated with an alteration in the metabolism of arginine.
The new study highlighted that in patients with long Covid there is an alteration of the metabolism of arginine, which stimulates nitric oxide, a key enzyme for proper immune and vascular function.
The researchers also demonstrated that the administration of 1.6 grams of arginine and 500 mg of liposomal vitamin C for 28 days restores the metabolism of arginine to a normal level and effectively counteracts fatigue.”
https://www.coronaheadsup.com/health/long-covid/long-covid-fatigue-caused-by-an-arginine-deficiency/
If you are on any meds, review them for interactions with L-Arginine supplements, or talk to your doctor.
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1 ReactionThe following is excerpts from a scientific article, published in the National Library of Medicine, on the depletion of nitric oxide in Covid patients and the “vicious cycle” that can increase Covid severity:
The scientific community is struggling to discover the link between negative COVID-19 outcomes in patients with preexisting conditions, as well as identify the cause of the negative clinical patient outcomes (patients who need medical attention, including hospitalization) in what seems like a widespread range of COVID-19 symptoms that manifest atypically to any preexisting respiratory tract infectious diseases known so far. Having successfully developed a nutritional formulation intervention based on nitrate, a nitric oxide precursor, the authors hypothesis is that both the comorbidities associated with negative clinical patient outcomes and symptoms associated with COVID-19 sickness are linked to the depletion of a simple molecule: nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical gas that transmits signals in the organism. Pharmacology professor Lou Ignarro first discovered that this small molecule, thought to be an atmospheric pollutant, can have effects, such as vasodilation on biological organisms.
The correlation between NO levels and respiratory viral disease severity was first noted by Pedja et al., which reported that levels of NO oxidation products in serum were higher in patients that survived acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by H1N1 [19], in comparison with non survivors. H1N1 infection is also known to increase exhaled NO levels.
Midway through the COVID-19 pandemic, inhaled NO gas emerged as a possible therapeutic process that could increase patient oxygenation and potentially lead to better clinical outcomes.
It is well established through human clinical trials that NO synthase expression, especially eNOS, declines with age, which leads to a drop into serum NO metabolite levels [29], and that the consequent deficiency in NO levels can negatively impact the progression of geriatric diseases.
Dietary inorganic nitrate has been utilized with success to lower blood pressure and maintain healthy blood pressure levels with a growing amount of evidence to support it [36]. Furthermore, it has been well established that hypoxia also raises blood pressure, as the body struggles to pump more blood to provide the necessary oxygen to the tissues [37].
{ Note: Hypoxia is a state in which oxygen is not available in sufficient amounts at the tissue level. }
Thus, it is entirely plausible that when COVID-19 infection advances to ARDS [Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) occurs when fluid builds in your lungs.] and causes hypoxia as a consequence, it also raises blood pressure. This can lead to a vicious cycle as hypertension induced by NO deficiency and hypoxia thus increase COVID-19 severity, which in turn causes a greater rise in blood pressure. It is also noted that the stress induced in COVID-19 patients with diagnosed hypoxia and breathing difficulties can also raise blood pressure.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8788438/