Why L-Arginine and L-Citrulline Do Not Increase Nitric Oxide
22 Jul 2025 · 9 min
This is a podcast episode titled "Why L-Arginine and L-Citrulline Do Not Increase Nitric Oxide" created in July 2025. The content features Dr. Anne Truong, an intimate health medical doctor and author, hosting a detailed discussion on sexual health, specifically addressing why supplements like L-Arginine and L-Citrulline often fail to increase nitric oxide levels. The episode includes explanations of the biochemical processes involved, dietary recommendations, and promotion of related health products and courses aimed at men dealing with erectile dysfunction.
This podcast is for you. The modern man. I'm Dr. Anne Truong, your host. I'm an intimate health medical doctor and best selling author of the book Erectile Dysfunction Fix. I'll do a deep dive into sexual health and performance and how it affects men of all ages and backgrounds. So let's get started and be sure to visit my website@sexualhealthformenpodcast.com for more information and resources from the show. See you on the inside.
I get this question a lot is that I keep taking L arginine, L citrulline, my nitric oxide doesn't get better and I'm still deficient nitric oxide. In my last episode I talked about how you can measure nitric oxide by using the nitric oxide strip. But if you keep taking the L arginine and L citrulline and you don't see an improvement, that's why we're going to talk about it today because I don't want you to waste your money and get frustrated because there's a multiple reason why you will not make nitric oxide by taking L arginine or L citrulline and that your diet is the best thing possible. So stay with me. We're going to get a little nerdy, we're going to get into the science of it a little bit. But just stay with me. I'm going to try to explain to you why taking L arginine, L citrulline does not increase your nitric oxide. First of all, it's a first pass metabolism. In your gut and your liver, a significant portion of the supplement that you take that has L arginine, L citrulline in it get metabolized and it doesn't go to the bloodstream once it go to your stomach and goes to the liver. So, so the liver and the gut kind of decrease the amount of bioavailability for even your body to even convert it to nitric oxide. Now, in order for your body to convert nitric oxide, you need the system called nos. N O S. NOS mean nitric oxide synthase. When nitric oxide synthase is kind of like an enzyme that has to convert the L citrulline, L arginine to to nitric oxide. But if that enzyme is not working well, no matter how much L arginine, L citrulline you take, it will not convert it because that enzyme is not going to make you nitric oxide. So you can have a kazillion L arginine, L citrulline sitting here, the enzyme not going to convert to nitric oxide. In fact, when you have that much L arginine, L citrulline, it will actually become something that that is inflammatory, will actually decrease blood flow, which is the opposite of what you want to take and may even harm your erection. So in most individual taking L arginine, you will not make nitric oxide because your enzyme in what's called is saturated, no longer working. Well, that's called the L arginine paradox. And that the nitric oxide synthase enzyme depends upon many, many factors. I'm not going to go over and bored you, but it depends on a lot of vitamins and CO factors. That's why most of the time it doesn't work well. By the time you're 40, 50% of the nos system is actually not even effective at all too. So just want you to let you know that by the time you're 40, you've lost about 50% the ability to make nitric oxide and that you take too much nitric oxide, it will become inflammatory and it will actually decrease blood flow as well too. So in context, I hope you understand that if your enzyme not working, then you're not making nitric oxide. So the best thing is to take it from your diet and on this slide that I'm showing you is going to talk about the two system that I talk about, the NOS system, which is on the left side, which depend upon the enzyme. And then from your diet you take like arugula or beet and take sunflower seed, it will go to your mouth and then your bacteria will convert it and also the gastric acid in your stomach will convert it to nitric oxide. So you know that your enzyme is going to be deficient 50% of the time. Try to get your nitric oxide from your diet to increase your nitric oxide. And that's one of the reason why we created the nitric oxide capsule here that has arugula extract and no L arginine, L citrulline, because it give you the arugula straight into your system without your NOS enzyme having to convert it. So it gives you straight your nitric oxide that you need to increase blood flow. And therefore if you're taking L citrulline, L arginine and you're not having increasing nitric oxide, that is the reason why, because your NOS enzyme is not working well and that you need to supplement it through diet. And also I talked about my previous episode breathing, breathing exercises where you breathe into your nose, breathe in for a count of four and breathe out for a count of six will also increase nitric oxide. Also, exercise such as doing weight training or high intensity interval exercise will also increase your nitric oxide. So just simple things like that will go a long way. Rather than taking L citrulline L Arginine because it dependent upon the enzyme system nos, which is really not working that well. Also strategies that I talk about in the past episode, look, you can check out here where you know, avoid taking fluoride mouthwash or fluoride toothpaste and decrease the amount of antacid that you need to take. So that goes a long way. And I hope that will save you some money in taking the L arginine. L Citrulline. Let me know what you think about this. And I'm hoping just to save you guys some money and make sure that you measure your nitric oxide, the strip here. I'm deficient, so I take my nitric oxide capsule of arugula extract every day. You can find that in our store at ED no more in the link down below here. And just know that you are worth it. You are not broken and do not have to suffer with ED at this time. So that's one of the reason why I created the Get Wood now course. Check the link down below to show you some ED breakthrough strategies. So that way you can have sexual confidence again. And you need a community of men that has ED that want to break out of ED is supported by me, my coaching program called the Modern Man Club. Check it out the link below or go to the website noedman.com because we want to show you that you are not alone. You do not have to suffer in silence. And there are solution to ED that doesn't require medication or surgery. Having said that, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I will see you in the next one. Modern man. Okay, Modern Man. You are not alone and you don't have to suffer anymore. ED can feel isolating, frustrating and even defeating. The endless guessing, the quiet shame, the weight of not feeling like yourself. It's exhausting. But here's the truth. You are not broken. You are not alone. You don't have to figure this out alone anymore. The Get Wood Now Bush program is your step by step path to sexual confidence and restoration. No more suffering in silence. No more trial and error. Just real solution, real result and the confidence you deserve. It's time to take back your power on your term. Let's get this journey started together. Check out the course@getwoodnow.com I'll see you there.
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